Strangely Bright: Can You Enjoy God And Love This World? by Joe Rigney

I like books. Today I want to share three things I’m thankful for in Joe Rigney’s Strangely Bright: Can You Enjoy God And Love This World?

This isn’t meant to be a summary of the book. It’s just three things that stood out to me.

I’m thankful for how Rigney shows that created things aren’t a trick trying to lure us into idolatry. On the contrary, created things actually make it possible to perceive God’s character (Romans 1:20):

…[created] things make invisible attributes visible. Created things make eternal things perceivable. God's own power and righteousness and beauty and wisdom and mercy are invisible attributes. We can't see them directly. But when we see a tornado tear across the plains, we see his power. When we stand on a giant mountain, we feel the firmness and stability of his righteousness. When we watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, we see his beauty. When we witness the magnificent intricacy of the food chain—deer eating grass and then being eaten by lions—we see his inscrutable wisdom and mercy over all that he has made. Made things make invisible attributes visible (pp 19-20).

I’m thankful for how Rigney shows that as we enjoy God’s gifts in the created world, we can also contemplate how the Giver of those gifts is even better than the gifts themselves:

What do I do with the truth that Jesus is better than pumpkin crunch cake? There are two possibilities. The first says, “I love pumpkin crunch cake. But Jesus is better. So maybe I shouldn't love the sweet pumpkin filling and the crispy cake topping and the crunchy pecans scattered throughout so much. Perhaps I should even mix in a little vinegar to spoil the taste. Maybe I should suppress my satisfaction in the cake, so that it doesn't compete with my satisfaction in God.” The second says, “This cake is unbelievably good, and it's just a fleeting taste of the fullness of joy that Jesus offers. As I eat it, I want to do so in such a way that I also taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Do see the difference? In the first case, we seek to make Jesus better by making creation worse. In the second, we seek to let creation be grand, only to remind ourselves, that we have not yet begun to experience true grandeur (p 54).

And I’m thankful for how Rigney shows that the Giver is still good even when His gifts include suffering (Mark 10:29-30):

…when we leave good things for the sake of Christ, God gives us back good things, with interest. The form that the returned gift takes may vary. You may give up your house for Christ, and he might return to you a better house (with “better” being defined by fruitfulness for you, your family, and the kingdom, not necessarily by size or expense). You may lose your family for the gospel, and God may restore familial fellowship through the church. The returned gift may simply be the manifest presence of God in your life in the midst of your losses. But whatever form the replacement gift takes, Jesus is clear—we ought to expect a hundredfold value returned to us in this life, (even with continued suffering), and in the age to come, eternal life (p 79).

So go and 1) see God even more by enjoying His creation, 2) know that no matter how good those created things are, God is better, and 3) look for the good things on the other side of suffering.

What do you think?
Joseph