I always wonder at those who cannot see that we have been made by a Creator and are not the happenstance of stars and such smashing together and apart again.
Intellect discarded evolution as a means of creation. (After all, the fossil record is nowhere complete – where are the four and six and eight and ten cell organisms? Where are the “tweens” between fish and bird and fish and land? One would think the record would be inundated with such and yet, they do not exist at all.)
I see the evidence of our Creator in everything. I “see” designs appear out of marks on the floor, the texture of a wall. I hear music from the sounds of the dryer turning, the refrigerator running, the jingling of the joints of a car as you drive down the street.
All of this is created in my mind from the world around me. I can’t stop hearing or seeing these things. I walk to the beat of this music that I hear. I stop in wonder of the face of a bird that appears suddenly on the wicker of a basket.
The real evidence of a Creator is that we ourselves are compelled to also create. We are made in the image of God, that means we are an extension of him. At least we were before sin entered the world and broke that connection into shreds on the floor.
Even so, we are still in the image of God and, because of that, we continue to reach for new creations. Some of these creations are good (in some ways like those of God in the first days); some creations are evil because we are evil due to our sin nature.
I look around at those whom I know and see the same evidence of creative work in their lives. A newer friend of mine followed God’s calling and left her old life behind in India to come to the United States to marry. Once here, she picked up a paintbrush and the most beautiful art starting spilling out. Her husband, one of my older friends, is a musician and can create wonderful melodies and stirring lyrics.
I marvel at my daughter’s mother-in-law, who can cut up fabric and sew it back together in beautiful arrangements that have shape and purpose in warming quilts for the bed. Her husband takes mica and wood and creates Arts and Crafts style lamps.
My elder daughter can create lovely art in traditional ways but also yummy and gorgeous art in the baked items she makes for her family. My son-in-law has stories that take birth in his mind and are written down for others to enjoy. My younger daughter is creative in so many ways, with traditional art, textiles and more. My husband can take a photo, a piece of wood and create intricate and delightful wood jigsaw puzzles.
Even my young grandchildren take blocks and create buildings and such. They take a jumble of a puzzle and create a picture from them.
For me, I have found that whatever my hand finds to work becomes something that I am compelled to create. I cross stitch both other artists patterns and those that I create to share with others. I crochet and knit warm scarves, hats and shawls. I color to create a world which reflects that in my mind. I have even taken Barbie dolls, remove off their hair, wipe their faces and reroot and remold them into postures that are pleasing to me with the face paint that and hair that I want them to have. There are so many creative avenues to explore and I want to try so many during the time I have on this earth.
There are times and days when I feel the music of God running through me. I want to dance and sing with all my might, just as David did. As I physically cannot do that due to my illness these days, I close my eyes and dance and sing to the Lord within the confines of my mind.
That we are compelled to create is not just an odd manner of behavior or something that we have picked up. It is part of us. We were actually commanded to create. God told us to be fruitful and multiply.
Creating a new individual is a blessing from God. It also contains the most important job we will ever be responsible for apart from serving the Lord. The care and nurturing and training of those who will follow us.
We have this drive to create and, on the surface, the world appears to be a beautiful and wonderful place. In actuality, it is a fallen world headed further and further into chaos. Our creations are a pale shadow of the reality that we were meant to have. When sin entered the world, everything changed. The beautiful creation of God was sent into a tailspin. From beauty untold to inevitable destruction.
Mankind, at its heart and separated from God, is evil. That is all of us, not just some of us. We all inherited the curse of sin from our father Adam. We, absent a new birth in Christ, are at odds with God. His enemy, if you will.
We want things our way and not the right way. We can create something lovely and think it good. At the same time, as a people, we create havoc and destruction and pain and suffering and death and think it a good thing, too. Regardless of the beauty or the evil intent, without Jesus at the center of our creation, it is all a house of cards. Something to behold but nothing of any real and lasting use.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was the creative force and that not one thing that was created was done so without him. Thankfully for us, Jesus is not done yet. He will, one day, return to this earth for the judgement. At that time, a new heaven and new earth will be created and it will endure forever.
I look forward to that day as I know that I am in right standing with God. I know that all of my sins, whether in thought or deed, will be read aloud. I know that, on my own, I am guilty and deserve the worst of punishments.
Thankfully, I am not on own. Jesus took my sins away with his perfect sacrifice. He willingly took on my guilt so that I could be presented to God as wholly good and clean. He died so that I could receive a Not Guilty at judgement. He rose again from the dead to show that his sacrifice of his sinless life had removed the sting of death from the consequences of that first sin and I, as well as others who have accepted this gift, were free from the eternal curse of sin.
I serve a risen savior. The creator of everything. His love is there for you as well. He died for your sin, too. There is no price for you to pay, no good deed to accomplish. There is only the need to accept his gift of love and to become one of his own. Once you do this, your life will forever be changed. You will have a place in eternity with Jesus, who as both man and God loved your so much, he could not bear the idea of eternity without you.
He is standing at the door of your heart asking for you to accept his gift. Please don’t ignore the calling of your spirit. You are only given today. Yesterday is gone forever and no promises are made for tomorrow. Today is the day to call upon the name of God to fix the broken relationship between you. Bring all of your brokenness to him and he will make you perfect and good and beautiful.
It is my prayer that you heeded his call and that I can now call you my sister or brother in Christ. That we will share in the time of the new creation and then be able to spend eternity together creating our masterpieces throughout the universe as God originally intended.
Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”