God created everything from the smallest of atoms to the whole universe. All of Gods creation is His craftsmanship. God gave order to everything he spoke into life. When man was spoken into life God also gave us order as well. After bringing man up from dust and women from mans rib God commanded Adam and Eve to take dominion and multiply. Before creation God already loved us, adopted us, and chose us to be His image on earth. This may seem elementary, but God wants to take these key concepts deeper.
God chose us to be a part of his family and adopted us as His heirs. The love that He has for us does not hinge on anything or anyone; His love is unconditional. This love is always there and will always be there. God loves you…
Man was commanded to take dominion and multiply the earth. We are given the responsibility for the earth and told to multiply. Adam and Eve were the only two on earth, so when given the commandment to multiply it may be easy to think that means to make lots of babies, but moreover God was commanding them to make more disciples. All of creation reflects and glorifies God and His intent was for all of man to do the same.
Each molecule in the universe has its place, and order. God could have created everything just as their shape, but he chose to use millions of tiny molecules to make up creation. A tree could have been simply a tree, but no, its far more complex in the way that all these molecules are configured together to make a tree. God is the conductor of a massive orchestra all made to send up praise, glory, and worship. Something went wrong with this beautiful picture as man allowed sin to smash the guitar and kick over the drums.
Andrew Scott writes in the book Scatter, ”When God planned,designed,and
created the universe, and us, He did an awesome job. Unbeatable, can’t get better, plain and simply magnificent. Humanity messed it up and chose its own way over Gods way. Sin separated us from God and affected every aspect of creation from weeds, to earthquakes, to labor pains. But God had a plan to redeem all that. For humanity those that would accept jesus’ death as payment for their sins and confess Him as Lord, they would be made new.” We are made new; that means we don’t have to live under the law of sin! “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to flesh… Therefore, if anyone is in christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)
We are born again so now we have the ability and opportunity to be a part of this orchestra. The word, part is very important. With social media and todays culture we have the ability to craft a life/future based off others. Suddenly through these outside influences we quickly begin to paint a picture of what our lives are going to
look like then work God into that picture. We are the created not the creators. We are Gods craftsmanship and he has instilled in us, before birth, everything needed to be a part of his big picture. We have been made in His image and given unique gifts, talents, passions, dreams, and abilities to glorify God. Everything has been given to us by God so everything is for his glory not our own.
Before I left for the World Race I distinctly remember watching a T.V. show. This show tested peoples reactions in unknown staged experiments. A man, unaware of the show, walked into a doctors office, which happened to be the stage for this experiment. The room was full of actors who would all stand at the sound of a beep then, a few seconds later sit back down at the sound of a second beep. The unknowing man seemed very confused at first but went along with the actors. This repetition went on for a while as the actors slowly got called in to see the “doctor.” Soon enough all the actors were gone and the unknowing man, now alone, continued to stand and sit. The operators of the experiment then sent in another unknowing women who, just as the first man, was confused, but started to stand and sit.
This was simply and experiment that sounds silly, but what if we are living our lives this way? What if our culture makes a sound and we don’t really know why, but out of confusion we follow along. Satan uses this confusion to pull us away from our identity and the fact that our calling and purpose in life is already spelled out. Sometimes we feel that this audible voice from heaven needs to thunder down and say what exactly our calling is, but I’m telling you he has already told you. If we don’t here an audible voice from heaven we can forget to look up, but in-turn look around. Generation after generation has been built on self glorification; when we forget to look up or in at the way we have been created a low groaning moo starts to form as we find our herd to settle in.
Often millennials are told they can be anything they want; which in a lot of cases is true. If we work hard enough, get enough schooling we can find our way into just about any carrier. This statement sounds encouraging and inspiring, but can lead down a dark path. If we are seeking carriers that are outside of our God given gifts, talents, passions, and desires ,or if we use those gifts to glorify ourselves, we will burn out.
Once upon a time there was a rock. This rock wasn’t just any rock it was a small boys prized possession. Front and center, on the boys night stand this rock lay day and night. One day the boy came home with a bouncy ball. He would play with it for hours and hours every day. One day while watching, the rock said to himself, “I wish I was a bouncy ball.” Every night, just as he always did, the boy whipped the dust of the rock with a smooth polishing rag and set him back down in his prized place. Weeks went on and the rock became more and more sad, until he had an idea. He trained for hours on end getting himself prepared for this moment and it was now here. Just as the boy opened the door the rock hopped off the night stand. He knew his training had prepared him for this moment. The rock was going to be the new fun toy around the
bedroom, but when the ground came the rock shattered into many peaces. The boy screamed and wept because his prized rock was now broken.
God hasn’t called you to be a bouncy ball. You are Gods prized possession just the way He created you. Don’t strive to be something your not because plain and simple we cant be what ever we want. Sorry.
Okay, now let me sum this up for you. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He then made, in His image, man to take dominion over the earth and make a land full of people worshiping, glorifying, and praising Him. Man turned away from Him and rewind His picture by allowing sin to inter the world. Then God pressed the reset button a few times and told Noah and Moses both to multiply or make more disciples, but both failed because sin wasn’t permanently atoned for. God then sent down His son to brake the law of sin and reunite the communion between God and man. He displayed his love for us and told all believers we are his beloved who are loved, adopted, and chosen. When you were born God was cheering you on because He knew the gifts, talents, and desires He handcrafted you with to make disciples of all nations.
Since the beginning, our beautifully complex creator has given each and everyone of us a purpose. We only get to live this gift called, life once. For me, I don’t want to live mine conforming to the patterns of the rest of the world. We are a generation with no ordinary dreams, but kingdom dreams. We are a generation of disciples who make disciples.
