Day 4
Creativity is for Everyone.
We are penned into a narrative of CREATIVITY by our God. All around us, His pen is moving and writing us in with every detail so meticulously placed. I love the way David puts it in Psalm 139… in verse 5, David says the LORD has hemmed us in, behind and before. With a needle and thread, he’s weaving us into a love story. With every fiber meticulously placed, and every color so thoroughly thought through. And like a tapestry, our lives showcase the masterpiece of his love…
Tapestries in David’s day were used like canvases… they would be displayed in great halls and in royal foyers with such detail woven into their fabric… and every thread intentionally placed with purpose. These tapestries would tell great stories, like the pages of a history book, they would remind all who casted their eyes upon them of the greatest moments of YAHWEH and his faithfulness. I love that David compared us to something with such vivid significance… a masterwork so purposefully created with the artist's hands. Our God is an artist, and he loves creating… And he’s creating something in you.
Our God is a CREATIVE GOD… he is the CREATING GOD… everything in our story begins with the CREATING NATURE OF OUR GOD.
If you flip these pages all the way back to the beginning, in Genesis 1, you find out just how creative God is. “In the In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”
There was void, and into void God CREATED…. And he kept creating. He divided matter from sky, and the planets were breathed into formation. With his hands, he sculpted the landscape and with his fingers he scraped the divide of earth and sea. And he kept creating. He painted the soil with vegetation, and wrote a scene of essential details like a stage play, every part with a powerful and specific role in the cycles that would frame the foundation of a planet full of living creatures. And still he kept creating…. He filled the seas and skies with a wondrous expanse of colorful creatures, with blues and pinks and yellows and greens… every color you could ever imagine each adapted to withstand and flourish in their own unique environments. Then he filled the landscape with living creatures, crawling and creeping and walking, each according to their kind.
Finally, we come to the centerpiece of his design… the grand finale of this display he was piecing together.
In verse 26, God says, “let us make mankind….” And then he says the single most important thing in this cosmic narrative. The words that would separate us from all the other living beasts of the earth. The words that would place us as the centerpiece of this love story that would soon follow. The words that would unfold into the greatest invitation ever given…
He says… “in our image, and after our likeness…” He was inviting us to create with him.
So what are you creating? Are you creating something in his design, and alongside this story of love unfolding around us? Or are you writing something according to your own opinions, feelings, and direction. What does, “in his likeness” mean to you?
The truth is, the tapestries of our lives will tell the story of something grander than us. What if the threads of who we are, like the fingerprints of our God woven into the grand design of creation unfolding all round us tell us of his wonder, told the story of his love? What if our lives could reflect a masterwork of Him who died for us while we were still sinners?
This is what it means to live in HIS likeness. The disciple John puts it this way in Revelation 12:1,
"They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
You see, there is a power in the story God is writing with your life… what if the words of your testimony could empower the triumph in the life of someone else? We literally have the power to mobilize the blood of the lamb in the lives of those around us by sharing our stories.
This was never just for us. God has made a creator in you. So create something… with your life and breath, create a display of his love.
God is hemming you into his love story behind and before….. every thread. Every color. Every detail woven with purpose. What kind of story does your tapestry share? Let’s dedicate our lives to allowing the scarlet thread of Jesus to be seen.
