I have always loved listening to music. At any given time, you’ll find me listening to something while I work, read, walk, etc. Often a song lyric will pop in my head that relates to something I’m doing. And my family has endured way too many restaurant visits where I blurt out the title of every song we hear before the third strum of the opening guitar riff plays.

When I was a kid, I had the radio on all the time. I even set up my old record player in my closet so that I could pretend that I had my own radio station. Imaginary listeners to my W-A-L-L broadcast might hear tunes ranging from the Everly Brothers to Michael Jackson to the Chipmunks Christmas album. Any record I could get my hands on or raid from my parents’ collection would be included in the mix.

As I grew older, I started to meet people who also enjoyed music like I did, but they had an even deeper passion. They’d talk about who the drummer was for a particular band, or who the bass player used to be before they replaced him, where a song was originally recorded, or the meaning behind certain lyrics. These folks were fans of the music just as I was, but they also greatly admired the artists behind the music. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate the musicians, but my attention was primarily on the music that they produced.

So, what’s that got to do with having Bible verses on articles I write about nature?

When I look at the world we live in, I marvel at the beauty, complexity, order, creativity, and the unfathomable power of the artist who created it. That artist is God, who has revealed Himself to us through His creation, through His word (the Bible), and through His Son, Jesus. Let me break that down a little bit.

As the Bible records, Jesus was a real person who was crucified and died on a Roman cross. This has also been documented by a few historical sources outside of the Bible. The followers of Jesus then testified in the Bible that Jesus was raised from the dead and that they personally saw the risen Jesus. These same early followers of Jesus were persecuted by the rulers and authorities of their day, sometimes even to the point of death, just for continuing to proclaim that Jesus was God in the flesh. The persecution of those followers of Jesus was also documented by some historical sources outside of the Bible (Pliny the Younger, Josephus, Tacitus, and others). Among the people who continued to proclaim Jesus as Lord even after his death on the cross, were individuals who had previously doubted and even been hostile toward Jesus and his followers. Why were they now willing to suffer for Jesus?

When Jesus was arrested and facing execution, one of His followers, Peter, had denied even knowing Jesus. Peter was afraid that he might face the same fate. Less than two months after Jesus died on the cross, Peter publicly explained the reason for his belief that Jesus is Lord right there in the same city where Jesus had been killed. “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know,” Peter declared in Acts 2:22. He went on to say, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we (Peter and the other disciples of Jesus) are all witnesses of it” (Acts 2:32). Peter and many others had seen Jesus die, be buried in a sealed, guarded tomb, and then rise again. Seeing a resurrected Jesus made it clear to Peter and the rest that Jesus was Lord, as it would for most people.

So, this Jesus, who performed miracles that only God could do, rose from the dead, and was God in the flesh, also made many references to scriptures contained in the same Bible we have today. He referred to those scriptures as the word of God. That’s why I can confidently say that it is indeed the word of God.

There are many, many things that I could add besides this simple example that explain the reason for my faith. But that is not the specific purpose of this article. I wanted to share why I have Bible verses on the posts I make about nature. John 1:3 says that “Through him (Jesus) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” That includes the nature that I love to watch, learn about, and enjoy. I share God’s word alongside things I write about nature because I love the artist behind the art.

Maybe you don’t agree with me, and you think the natural world around us came into existence in some other way. I do not expect to convince you differently with a short article and a few examples. I know that you might be reading this article because you came to it from something I have shared about nature, which means you just might love the “art” of nature as much as I do. We can still admire the artistry together.

But I do hope that you just might find your way to Jesus through His creation. Not only has He created the plants, animals, and the natural world we love, but you and I are His creation too, made by God in His own image. I hope that you are drawn to know Him better just as someone who wants to know all about their favorite artist, musician, actor, filmmaker, etc. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

My hope that you seek out Jesus is not simply so that you and I can both share the same admiration for the One who created everything. It’s actually a matter of life and death. As you look at the world we live in, you likely can sense that it seems to be broken in some way, and that there are many things about it that don’t seem right. Like a scratch on a record, it just doesn’t play right. The Bible explains why from beginning to end. All of humanity has turned away from our Creator, forgetting the One who made us and sustains us by His creation. There are consequences to that, just as there are consequences to breaking human laws. We expect justice because true justice is something we know to be objectively good. Fortunately for all of us, justice was served because Jesus suffered the consequences of our rebellion, even though He did not deserve it. This was why Jesus lowered Himself to become a man and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). All we must do is accept the payment Jesus made for us. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

When we accept that payment and follow Jesus, we begin to be just a little more like God’s original design. And we will spend eternity remade into the perfect work of art that God intended for us to be from the beginning.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

When you look, you see.