I just moved home. New town. New church. New people.
Lots of introductions and names to desperately try and remember. I’ve never been good with names. How about you?
“Hi, how are you? I’m David…”
“I’m {name my brain is programmed to forget before the conversation is even over, sigh!}.”
“So, David, what do you do?”
The structure differs slightly from conversation to conversation but that pretty much sums things up. Who are you and what do you do?
It is a typical introduction and we tend to put our most prominent and positive traits forward so people can get a broad picture of who we are and what we are passionately pursuing in the world.
That’s why Genesis chapter 1 is so revealing.
Imagine being in that same party, or the same after church service coffee huddle, and the Almighty walks up to you. He extends his hand and you give it a brisk shake.
“Hi,” his voice demands your attention right away, who is this wild man with sparkling eyes?
“I’m God.”
In the beginning, God…
His first introduction.
You pull your trembling self together, share your name (which He already knows, and NEVER forgets) and ask Him, “so, er, God, what is it that you do?”
In the beginning God created…
“I’m a Creator,” He replies. “I make things. Lots of things. Universes and stuff like that.”
God is a Creator. At His core he is a Maker. One who brings things to being. An innovator. An imaginator (is that even a word?). Our Father is a boundless creative.
Is it any wonder that humanity is so colourfully creative too?
Whether people know it or not, our genes, our very make up as a human being, is intricately tied to the beating heart of the One who started it all. The Creator.
Thing is, the importance and significance of this reality is often lost in the busyness. We think our ideas are our own. We applaud our own abilities and productivities. But at the root it is Papa who is the Source. He is the Fount of every great notion.
The truth that God is Creator is also often consigned to the evolution/creation debate. That’s a conversation that I love, don’t get me wrong. And yes, before you ask, I am a six day young earth Adam was the first man believer, without any doubt or shame.
But I think our Father was saying more than just His scientific standpoint here.
In fact, not once does He try to argue or justify Himself. I like that about Dad, don’t you? Like the time Moses asks His name so he would have something impressive to tell folks, and God just says, “tell them I AM, that’s enough.”
Instead I think our Father was sharing something fundamental about His priorities and His nature.
Creator.
Creativity is not secondary.
We do not need to be schooled in imagination and play.
Watch any group of children and you will see the Creator’s inherited nature at work. His image is seen in every laugh and imaginative game they engage in. A stick becomes a light sabre. A box becomes a castle to defend or a mansion for some stray teddy bear.
If anything, I think we are often schooled out of creativity. Convinced by well meaning adults that such things are frivolous and unimportant.
But they are not.
They are primary.
Not just what we do, but part of who we are.
Wear it well, friend. Claim your inheritance. A vibrant, untethered ability to create good things. To make the universe a better, more useful, and more beautiful place.
So, tell me again (so sorry, I forgot already, sigh), “What’s you name?”
Wow. Nice name.
But I do remember what you do.
You create.
Right?
That’s amazing!
