October 30, 2006

God the Recycler
by Pastor George Van Alstine

Any Monday morning, you’re likely to see three large plastic containers in front of our house—one with a green top, one with a blue top, one with a black top. These, of course, are the disposal containers for “Trash,” “Recyclables,” and “Yard Waste.”

In reality, these items are all recyclable, but they go down three different recycling roads. The molecules that make up the chemical structure of the materials our household has “used up” are just put into various types of storage areas until they can be reconstituted into forms where they can be used again, and again, and again. Some “Recyclables” can be reused quickly, such as newspapers and plastic containers, which are just ground up, processed, and reshaped for a new round in a similar function. “Yard Waste” takes a year or two to become the nutritious mulch for another generation of plants. The tin cans, broken toys, and worn-out clothes of our “Trash” may require decades of decomposition for human uses in a new form. But none of this really goes to waste.

As the days of my life pass by, I leave a constant output of “waste” behind: the hours I’ve spent sleeping, the paper I’ve used up in writing sermons, the sermons themselves, the energy I’ve invested in fixing cars, the brain cells I’ve worn out by doing crossword puzzles in the daily newspaper. Maybe there are a few lasting accomplishments to show for my decades on earth—a house we’ve been able to purchase, a few people’s lives I’ve influenced, hopefully for good, some things I’ve written, my wife, children and grands. But the truth is, I’ll leave very few traces of my existence behind me. Most of my hours, my efforts, my projects, my words, and my vocation could be carried out in containers with different colored lids.

And yet, even the throw-away parts of my life are not really wasted because of the grace of my Recycler/God. The Psalmist wrote with amazement about how detailed and intimate God’s knowledge of him was:
“You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.” (Psalm 139:2-3)

According to Jesus, God’s concern for the life of one of his human children gets down to an inventory of “the hairs of your head” (Luke 12:7). So I’m convinced that even the green-lid, blue-lid and black-lid aspects of my life are given eternal significance by God, who wastes nothing of his wonderful creation.

This image of God as the Great Recycler ought to be a powerful encouragement to those who think their lives don’t amount to anything. We need to remember the street wisdom of the newly-converted gang member in the sixties who came up with the slogan “GOD DON’T MAKE NO JUNK!”