Presented by Lauren Stibgen
We are made for work. Think about this: Has there ever been a day you woke up not thinking about doing something? The answer may be a quick yes! If I am honest, I have had days when I wake up dreaming of doing absolutely nothing—being idle, quiet, enjoying leisure—but this quickly fades. Even when we daydream about what we’d rather be doing than going to work, the daydream will typically result in some sort of creation!
God’s work started in Genesis and is still active today. And as followers of Jesus Christ, each one of us plays a part of this work. Even though God’s first perfect work of creation was stained by the fall, God is working still on the redemption of everything that is his. We are often so involved with our career work we forget to think about God’s big plan for his kingdom and how we are a very important part of it.
Reading Genesis 1, we see God created the heavens and the earth. These creation verses are filled with action! Let there be light, let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let dry land appear, let the earth sprout vegetation, let there be lights in the expanse, let the waters swarm with living creatures, let the earth bring forth living creatures. And finally,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).
After doing a lot of work in the creation, God created man in his image. And he immediately set man to work! He put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
After the fall when Adam and Eve ate from the tree God told them not to, they still had to work, but God sent them outside of the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which they were taken (Genesis 3:23).
Even with sin, we are still created in the image of God, a working God. No wonder we think about working so much!