Living in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast has brought the beauty of God’s creation and the misery of the curse more clearly into focus. D.A. Carson’s book in Christ and Culture Revisited
makes a good case for using the high points of the biblical story line to arrive at our view of culture. In other words, our view of culture must account for the creation, the fall, the giving of the law, the coming of Christ, etc. Living in Santa Marta has allowed me to think more deeply about two of these high points: creation and the fall.
Sometimes we emphasize one high point over another. We may think that culture is wonderful wherever we go, thus emphasizing God’s common grace in the creation, but forgetting about the fall of man. Or we may curse every aspect of culture because we don’t take the image of God into account.
We’ve seen new aspects of the beauty of God’s creation here in Santa Marta. Like the time we frolicked in huge waves down the coast about twenty minutes. I’d never noticed how powerful water can be. I got to the point where I could hardly stand because of the sheer mass of water that continued to overwhelm me. I grasped a little better the power of our God through that experience.
On Saturday we went to Playa Grande (“Big Beach”) outside of Taganga, a fishing village north of Santa Marta. Lucas and I snorkeled about 500 yards along the shore to see some beautiful coral reefs and fish in bright yellows, greens, and blues. I even saw an eel and a puffer fish! How many beautiful creatures are moving around in the oceans of the world right now, giving glory to God?
On the other hand, we’ve experienced more of the curse that Adam’s sin brought to our world than maybe ever before. In Genesis 3:17-19, we read about several aspects of the curse:
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (ESV).
I’d never noticed so vividly the phrase that mentions “the sweat of your face.” In Iowa or Minnesota I sweated some, but nothing like I’ve done here in Santa Marta. I’ve had a few days where sweat rolled continuously down my face for almost twelve hours. When your eyes burn from sweat, you begin to appreciate this aspect of the curse better. I also notice the phrase that says “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,” which refers to the negative changes the creation experienced which make work more difficult. I would put mosquitoes in this category, and we have felt somewhat like the Egyptians who experienced the plagues in the Old Testament. We have mosquitoes in the living room, in the office, in the bathroom, on the patio… you get the idea.
The creation and the fall lead me to think about Christ. As I think about how many people come to the coast in the hopes of escaping their reality through the beauty of the creation, the futility of alcohol, or the sensuality of others, I cannot help but rejoice at what God has done in Christ. He, the innocent lamb, died for the guilty who had no hope. Thank you Lord for the privilege to share Christ with people here in Santa Marta!
