Spirituality Column #755

May 4, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Creative Potential

By Bob Walters

“And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” – Genesis 1:2

Some people get the Jesus thing right from the get-go in their lives.  They live it as kids, grow in it, mature in it, don’t know life without it, always understand they are sinners but always – always – have known and been moved by God’s grace. 

As the troubadour sang back in the 1960s, “It ain’t me, babe”; I’m a definite case of “before and after.” It is not a criticism to say these lifers don’t know a time “before,” while I and many others do.  My “time before” truly puts a special gloss, for me, on appreciating God’s intention as His Spirit “moved upon the face of the waters” and surveyed a world not only without form, substance, or light, but also, without purpose.

Potential, but no purpose; that’s the difference in my life “before.”

My Study Bible (Okay, it’s an NIV but that doesn’t invalidate this excellent point) notes a poetic and functional parallelism in God’s days of Creation: things created Days 1-2-3 support and make possible the life of things created in Days 4-5-6.

And this thought popped into my head (thanks, Holy Spirit): all the physical creation of the first three days – light, water, firmament / sky, dry land, vegetation are all things incapable of fulfilling what God desires.  God has made and decorated a big, empty room with no purpose; it has all that’s needed to sustain life, but no re-connection with God – a romping but inert and uninteresting expanse.  Potential, but no purpose.

The Study Bible calls it a picture of our human lives without Jesus.  Agreed.  We are put into this world in God’s image, but without Jesus we have no opportunity to reconnect with God or grow into His paradise – and we are sitting in the middle of it!

In our lives, we are separate from God not just because of our sin but because without Christ, we have no way back to God.  Jesus provides us with the road map of God’s true purpose: to discover the joy He knows being part not of an inert, purposeless creation, but rather a beloved child discovering and growing in faith into God’s loving eternity.  Our challenge?  Replace darkness with the purposeful light of Christ.

We are born into the fallen world physically, yet truly not unlike the first three days of Creation: all potential, but unformed purpose.  Then, the drama: Will we rebelliously deny God’s gracious call to us in Christ?  Or raise our hearts and spirits in love to join God with the purposeful bearing of fruit and life everlasting, together?

This is the spiritual promise of the last three days of creation looming before us.

I avoid arguments about defining “days,” old earth / new earth science, pondering the eternal silliness of whether Adam had a navel, etc.  They badly miss the point, especially when you believe and trust the Bible as the true and inspired word of God.

The point of the Bible is our purpose – which is glorifying God by believing in His Son Jesus, loving God, and loving others – and enriching our understanding of God’s purpose in His Creation, His salvation, our lives in Christ, and for telling us this story.

When God declares His creation is “Good,” He’s declaring the presence of our purpose, which is Christ; and His purpose, which is His love and glory. That’s good.

When the psalmist foresees, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,” that’s a prayer for our potential to grow lovingly into God’s purpose.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that “the troubadour” is Bob Dylan, 1964.