Create for the Creator

God creates. The very first thing we see in the Bible is that God creates. The first couple chapters of the Bible are dedicated to telling us all of what God created. He also created us. God created us in his image. And he called us very good. We'll skip some steps to get to the point: it is a good thing to create.

God has been the creator and sustainer of the entire universe and everything within it since the beginning of time. And he made us in his image! The imago dei. There is a lot that the imago dei speaks to, but one of these things is that we are able to be creators following after our God. To create, to build, to shape, is a reflection of the God we serve. In a way.

Not only is this a reflection of God, but this can be done as an act of worship and praise to him! When we create, we can worship God in the process. To create is to exercise our being. To exercise our being made in the image of God.

There is a young man who attends church at Riverlawn and who comes to our young adult ministry. He came to me the other day with a poem he wrote. I read it, and I was floored. In rhyme and verse, he was able to capture the breadth of the Bible beautifully. As I was reading the poem, all I could think was, this is what it looks like to create as an act of worship to our Creator.

I got his permission to share it here.

In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light”
From there, creation took flight 
In Eden, a serpent devised exile for us all 
And man met his fall 
Not to worry, saith the Lord, “I will make it right.” 
 
Soon came the Dreamer 
But his brothers were schemers 
They sold him to slavery 
God freed him with dreamery 
Joseph became a kinsman-redeemer 
 
When Joseph’s people were in overflow 
The Egyptians killed in fear of overthrow 
“Let my people go,” said the Chosen 
But Pharoah’s heart was frozen 
So, God put on a show 
 
After God freed them with His wonder 
The Israelites made a great blunder 
When they saw the Canaanites 
From the promised land they took flight 
So, forty years in the desert they were set to wander  
 
Give us a king the now settled people said 
They were jealous of how their neighbors were led 
But their king became non-compliant 
So, God picked David, the slayer of the Giant 
From his bloodline God promised to raise the dead 
 
To the blessed among women God sent Gabriel 
And the virgin Mary bore Emmanuel 
On that silent night 
By God’s begotten might 
The powers were wrested from hell 
 
God’s begotten set forth from Galilee 
He set to make his creation free 
As God hung from that cross 
The world felt its loss 
Darkness closed in, and Light rose on day three 
 
Though it may seem absurd 
By His cross, we were cured 
From slavery disguised as revelry 
The Son of David set us free 
All according to his word 
 
Along came an opposer named Saul 
Tsk tsk, said the Lord, “I’ll call ye Paul.” 
Spread the word to the gentiles 
That they’ll abandon their wiles 
Thus, redemption for all

My encouragement to you, reader, is to create! Write, paint, compose, photograph, sculpt, sing, draw, dance, CREATE! We create because of the one who created us.