Made to Make

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Genesis 1:1; 2:15 (ESV) "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth... The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."

What It Is Speaking to Me

Have you ever watched someone do their job in a way that was clearly more than just going through the motions? My first job was as a dish monkey at a fancy restaurant. There was a chef there that really cared about the food he made. It wasn't just the job. My wife is a choir teacher who is genuinely interested in creating excellent music with her choirs, and instilling that excellence in her students. If you work with a lot of different people, you know there is a different energy around people like my wife and that chef. You can feel it.

I think that is actually what we were built for.

Before sin entered the picture, before the fall, there was work. Genesis 1 opens with God working. He thinks, evaluates, names, separates, forms. He is clearly engaged. He isn't just filling time. And then Genesis 2 puts humans in a garden and tells them to work it and keep it. That is not a punishment. That is the original job description. Adam was to tend the garden and name the animals. Jobs that involve creativity.

God made us in his image and part of that image was to immediately give us something to do. We are creative because He is creative. We are makers because He is a Maker, though certainly not to the same degee. When we bring genuine thought and care to our work, we are doing something that is baked into who we are at a level deeper than we usually acknowledge.

The challenge is to not treat our to-do list today like it's just a list. Survive the meeting. Get through the emails. Make it to 5 o'clock. But that framing misses something important. The work in front of you today is an opportunity to reflect the image of God inside of you to the world.

That's not a small thing. That's not extra credit.

It's kind of a big deal. It's our creation mandate.

What Is It Saying to You?

Is there a task in front of you today that you've been approaching as something to survive rather than something to engage?

Where could you bring more creativity or care to work you've been doing on autopilot?

What Are We Going to Do About It?

Pick one thing on your list today and approach it differently. Don't just complete it. Ask if there's a better way. Bring something of yourself to it.