Transcript
The Bible teaches that God created this world out of nothing, that He spoke existence into existence. I have never and I will never speak anything into existence just by my voice. It's just an incredible thing to think about and that the God who has made himself known to us and the God that we serve is a God of this kind of majestic wisdom and glory and power and might. It's mind numbing.
A Painter's Perspective on Creation
But this doctrine presses in on my life and I want to talk about how I'm a painter by avocation, and I design, compose, conceive of and execute a painting. A painting will take me maybe three months to finish. Now, when I'm done with that painting, it belongs to me because I made it. I designed it. The purpose for that painting was designed by me. It is what it is to do what is meant to do because of my will and my purpose.
And so, you can't think of the doctrine of creation without thinking ownership and purpose because that's the nature of making it. If I'm in a workshop and I have wood and nails and glue and tools, I don't start hammering and sawing and screwing and saying to myself, "I hope this turns into something." I have a purpose in in my mind.
So ownership and purpose always presses in on me. If I'm going to believe the doctrine of creation, first of all, it means I don't own me. God does. I don't own my mentality. I don't own my emotionality. I don't own my spirituality. I don't own my psychology. I don't own my physicality. I don't own my gifts. I don't own my relationships. It all belongs to the Lord.
What Did You Intend for Me?
So I should ask when I think of myself, "What is it that You intended to do with this? This me? What do You want from me? What was Your purpose for me? What is my existence about?" Rather than me saying, "This all belongs to me and I decide what I want to do with my body. I decide what I want to do with my heart. I decide what I want to do with my mind. I decide what I want to do with my gifts and skills and skills and relationships. I decide what I do with my experience. I am Lord over me."
Doctrine of creation says no, no, no, no, no. There's Someone who owns you and who designed you with a specificity of purpose. And you surely must always be holding on to the question, "What is God's purpose for my existence," and God's ownership and God's purpose should then form the way you approach everything in your life.
