Made On and With Purpose
One of my favorite ways to connect with my creator is to walk by the river or hike in our local state park. I feel closest to God in nature. While finishing seminary, I spent about eight hours alone in our local state park praying about adoption. I am infertile, and we were looking into adoption at the time. In my time away with God, disconnected from everything else, God helped me see the beauty of adoption in that he adopts us as we place our faith in Christ. What really stood out is that he chooses us not just accepts us.
While today’s blog isn’t about adoption, sharing how God spoke to me during that time matters to me. I’ve noticed the mounting tensions and stress that many are experiencing, particularly in the lead-up to the presidential election and the cultural shifts that seem to contradict God’s word. These are just a couple of the individual stressors we face. Everyone has their own list. It’s become clear to me that we can only navigate these tensions when we’re rooted in our faith and spend time with our Lord. Our faith is our anchor, our source of hope and reassurance, allowing Him to guide us even amidst the chaos.
For the next several weeks, our congregation will have a series called “Back to the Garden.” We hope to go back to the beginning and foundation of what it means to be in a relationship with our creator so we can be more confident in how we will live in this complicated, turbulent time. Today, I want to reflect on our first passage, our opening theme for this series. We will be looking at Genesis One and Two.
As I delve into this passage, I’m always struck by the meticulous and purposeful way God creates. Everything is placed with a specific intention- the earth, the heavens, plants, animals. And then there’s humanity, with an even more extraordinary role. We are created in God’s image and invited into a life with our creator. This revelation has become even more profound to me as I’ve realized that in many other creation stories of the time, humans were often the result of chaos, not made with intention. Or worse to be used by their god. The sheer beauty and wonder of God’s creation never fail to amaze me.
As I read these verses, I imagine walking in the garden in perfection, simply hearing God share what life is all about. I think about working in that garden with Him, not against him or guessing what to do, but doing what God has made me for. For me, this is a beautiful, wonderful image. For others who would like to avoid nature, maybe the picture is more challenging to imagine being as beautiful as I’m trying to describe it.
No matter the scene you picture, the key idea is that God created you in His image and wants an intimate relationship with you. One that He listens to and leads you in as you listen and follow. Next week, we will get into the more messy stuff called sin, but for this first week, can we stop and realize just how amazing it is that we have a God who created us in His image with a purpose and wants us to be in an intimate relationship with Him?
If you are Christian (you have placed your faith in the redeeming work of Christ, his life, death on the cross, and his resurrection), how are you going to God and walking with him to listen and follow where he is leading?
What can you do or stop doing to connect more with our Creator this week?