God Said ...

When God speaks He is creating! So, God's Word isn't a Book but a Person!

If this world is ever going to recover what we have trashed by falling for the delusion of materialism, we will have to start with the idea of Logos. This precious and vital fundamental understanding of human reality locates true meaning in God’s Word.

And I’m not talking about the Bible.

Though the scriptures are treasures without compare, the genuine rediscovery of real meaning in the world will come when we embrace the reality that God’s Word is the Person of Jesus Christ. And it is in Him that we discover the true meaning of all creation and our lives.

So, when God speaks, He does more than merely communicate with words.

He is making visible, authentic, and relatable His glorious Self.

Even though He will always be beyond our understanding, He does everything to bridge the gap between the Created and the Uncreated by coming among us Himself in the flesh and thereby collecting all the physical reality of creation and uniting it to Himself through His grace and love. The whole notion of the Faith and my Normal Orthodox Christian life is discovered when I embrace the spiritual labor of embodying this unity God has restored between Him and me through Christ. My life is in Him. My meaning and purpose are in Him. And everyone around me is also meant to be connected to Him.

My mission is to help others embrace this reconnection to God through Christ!

Look at our Lesson today in Genesis 1:1-13:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

All of us know this passage well. It’s the beginning. But notice what St. Moses emphasizes as he tells us the story of God creating the world. God uses His Voice, His Word! (hint, hint!)

God’s Word is there with Him at Creation “out of nothing” (ex nihilo), and His Word brings creation into being.

God’s Word shares “existence” with the creation as God “SAYS,” “Let there be…”

And His creation is GOOD because creation receives its existence from the Good God. His Word brings existence into existence because His Word is equal to Him and shares His eternality and divinity. Have you figured out that I’m talking about Jesus here? Good. I was hoping to be obvious.

Words matter because God begins His love story with His creation, His Word. His Word extends God’s goodness and shares God’s goodness with the creation God brings into existence. In just a bit, God will look at the humanity He creates from His creation and say that humanity is “Very Good.” And God has never changed His Mind about that!

Significantly, the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures uses the word “logos.” St. Moses starts his creation story with God speaking the universe into existence. God uses His “logos” to create everything. Then, St. John begins his gospel of John in the same manner, using the word “logos” to tell us that Jesus is God’s Word.

This significant revelation is given to us on the threshold of Great Lent precisely to teach us to pay attention to God’s Word and continually allow His Word to recreate us in His likeness.

The Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus, and Basiliscus were companions of St. Theodore the Tyro (see Feb. 17) and were fellow soldiers who had been betrayed as Christians during a time of widespread persecution of Christians when Diocletian was Emperor. After being tortured severely, Eutropius and Cleonicus were crucified, but Basiliscus was sent back to his prison cell in hopes he would reject Christ after seeing his companions killed. Try as they might, the pagans could not persuade Basiliscus to offer sacrifices to the false gods. He was finally beheaded after making his witness clear and his faith sure in Christ.

Today, on this Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent, do your words share goodness with creation? Are your words icons of God’s Word for your world? If we are ever going to travel this journey to the fullness of our purpose and destiny as creatures meant to be God’s eternal companions, we must begin with disciplined words.

As King Solomon says in Proverbs, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). The Church teaches us practical spiritual disciplines, beginning with the practice of silence and then moving us to learn to shape our words in prayer and worship. Having our words seasoned with timeless wisdom sets us free to use them to create rather than destroy. We become Normal Orthodox Christians.

P.S. Since divine Eutropius and Basiliscus and the famed Cleonicus were bound in unity of faith, they cut asunder the foe's arrays when they contended courageously for the Lord.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV