JESUS CREATOR

 MAY 30, 2022

 

Colossians 1:15-16



15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.

Genesis 1:1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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Today’s passages make clear that Jesus, along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, were present at the creation of the world. Likewise, “all things” were created through Christ. In other words, Jesus is the Creator God we read about in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created.”

It is an interesting thing that before God tells us He is love, before He tells us He is holy, before He tells us He is Savior, God wants us to know that He is a creative, productive, working God.

You see, this idea of a God who works is distinctive in the long list of stories of the origin of the world. Most religions around Israel, and in our world today claim that “the gods” created human beings to work and serve their needs and wants. It is a bold claim that is made in the Bible, no one, certainly in the world around Israel, would dare to say that God Himself works. Yet, our Bible introduces that truth in the first few words of the story. In the beginning God created!!

This truth of a creative, productive, working God, I believe carries the utmost significance for our work and tasks in the present. I have been wondering if maybe our perspectives on work need some tinkering in light of this revelation. What if work is not a peripheral thing or a meaningless means to an end. What if the Bible means to help us understand that work is central to who God is, and thus, central to who we are as His image bearers? That is a profound meaning of this revelation of Jesus Christ that we read about in our verses today.

I think what grabs me about this is that the work that God does is creative work, the work of creating new things for the benefit of others, to create a blessed and enjoyable life. The work of God described in today’s texts remind me of the work done around us. You know the work of entrepreneurs and artists, carpenters, storytellers and sales executives, scientists, marketers and mothers . . . .

I don’t know what you think of what I am about to say, lately I have been wondering if my response to the call of God to follow him, is a call that leads to a creative, productive, working life for God’s glory. Hmm what might that look like, in my homelife, neighbor life, work life, and church life? What might that look like in all our lives? 

Here is a prayer I encountered recently, a prayer for all us creators that seek to glorify God.

Bless the creators, O God of creation,
who by their gifts make the world
a more joyful and beautiful realm.
Through their labors
they teach us to see more clearly
the truth around us.
In their inspiration
they call forth wonder and awe
in our own living.
In their hope and vision
they remind us
that life is holy.
Bless all who create in your image,
O God of creation.
Pour your Spirit upon them
that their hearts may sing
and their works be fulfilling.
Amen.