Embracing God's Call to Flourish
Did you set a growth goal or a maintenance goal this year? On January 1, I got on the scale and was pleased with what I saw. My next thought was that a good goal for this year would be to weigh the same thing on the last day of the year. I thought maintaining my weight for the year would probably result in good health.
But now, a couple hours later I am reevaluating my goal. Maintenance of my weight might be achievable, but it might also indicate a failure or lack of growth. I suspect that most of us that are older than 35 have already learned that we lose about one percent of our muscle mass every year, and by the time we are in our sixties that percentage of muscle loss can rise to eight percent. So, to stay healthy we might need not a simple maintenance goal; we might need a growth goal. I could weigh the same next year but be less healthy if I don’t focus on muscle growth this year.
As I look back on my life, I notice that my healthiest seasons of growth in any area of life or business came when I had good partnerships rather than trying to go it alone. God created us to live in community. We are often reminded by bible teachers that we are created in God’s image which means we are to reflect the goodness and character of God through our lives. But as we read the verses that follow God’s declaration of being formed as his image bearers, we also discover that we are called to a partnership with God in the care of his creation.
The more you consider Genesis chapters one and two, the more you understand that God’s design for us was and continues to be a partnership that results in flourishing or growth. To be image bearers we must be actively involved in expansion and multiplication. Consider God’s original instructions to Adam and Eve:
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”
If you turn the pages of your bible to the last two chapters of Revelation, we see that in eternity God renews and restores all things back to his design in the garden. We will be with God and will live in an eternal partnership where our service or work does not result in fatigue but results in ongoing flourishing.
When we pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are reminded that our partnership with God now always seeks to bring about God’s intended plan of flourishing, which cannot happen if we are satisfied with maintaining our current state. Remember, we are living in a fallen world that is groaning to be renewed by God. Our job is to embrace our intended place as partners with God, and by the Holy Spirit living in us, we can experience the flourishing of God in our lives and in our communities as we await the return of Jesus.
So this year, don’t settle for a maintenance plan. Instead, may the redeemed of the Lord join hands in partnership with God and do the work that he has given us to do!
Father, thank you for including us as your partners and ambassadors in the world today. We surrender our lives to you and ask that you use us in ways that bring about your will here on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Genesis 1:26-31, 2:5-8, 15 ESV
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
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