Text: Genesis 1.26-31
When we partner with God in friendship he gives us a purpose. To fully understand that purpose, we must go to the beginning. Both beginnings. There are actually two beginnings in the Bible: the first is when God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1.26-31); the second is predicted when Jesus returns a second time to earth (Revelation 21-22). When that happens, God will destroy the first creation and re-create it into the new creation.
At the first creation, God invited the first people, Adam and Eve, to partner with him in moving his creation in the right direction—toward an unhindered friendship with himself. Adam was given the responsibility to oversee everything and told to not eat from a designated tree.
But both Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate, damaged their relationship with God, and thus passed the destruction of sin to their descendants and God’s entire creation. From that point, God began a plan of reconciling these broken relationships to himself in a fallen and tarnished world.
To accomplish this plan, God continues to partner with his people. Before the second creation can begin, God invites all those who believe in him and his plan to help bring others to his new heaven and earth. Our world begins and ends with creation as God relates to, and partners with, us to accomplish his purpose.
As you welcome God into this new week, read both creation passages, then pray and begin to plan how you will partner with God in 2015 to help accomplish his purpose.
