An Old Question

May we have another conversation?

How about an old question today?

A question as old as humanity.

What is my purpose?

Why am I on earth and what am I supposed to do while I am here?

The ancients spent time on this:

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
~ Genesis 4.2

Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ~ Genesis 4.20

His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.
~ Genesis 4.21

Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. ~ Genesis 4.22

They figured out what to do while here on earth.

What about us? What about all of mankind as a whole?

This is what has been in my mind lately:

Perhaps we have a dual role, we humans. A dual purpose, given to us by God Himself.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness... ~ Genesis 1.26

Let us make. We are created, a part of God's creation.

In our image. We are God's unique counterpart, His representatives here on earth.

Perhaps we could try to work through the idea of being God's representative first?

Being made in God's image brings with it certain responsibilities.

The second part of Genesis 1.26 says that God decided that we were to rule, have dominion over, all living creatures.

David echoes this in Psalm 8:

What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.

This has, unfortunately, been used too often as an excuse to plunder the earth and destroy it.

Instead, as Jeremy Begbie says in Resounding Truth:

as God's image bearers, humans are to exercise God's wise and loving rule within the world; to use more modern language, we are to be wise stewards of the earth, caring for it and protecting it in a way that reflects and embodies God's rule over his creation.

We are also to spread God and His love to the rest of the world. We are to work to speed up God's future goal for creation, to bring healing, restoration, hope and peace.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. ~ II Corinthians 5.18-20

Israel was supposed to be a picture of this. Israel was called to be God's people, accomplishing God's purposes for humanity in and for the world. They had experienced God's rescuing power and love and were to be His way of giving that love to the rest of the world.

I wonder what would have happened if Israel had obeyed. What would our world look like if they had acted as God's representatives?

This is a painful question.

Israel's purposes were but a shadow of our own.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
~ II Corinthians 3.6-9

What would our world look like if I were acting as God's representative?

What would my neighborhood, my community look like if I were caring for and protecting our world, if I were sharing God's rescuing love with the people around me?

I will confess. Different.

Things have gone wrong and many live in alienation from one another and in purposeless and destructive living. I want to be different. I want to live in the image of God.

We can only do small things. Being mindful of the way we treat our natural resources, sharing our garden and our baked goods with our neighbors, helping another child get the food, education and spiritual learning she needs...

I will continue to think through this, trying to imagine what it looks like to act in the image of God. Will you help me? What if we all made a small change or two? Perhaps our world would look different.

Come back next week? Bring your coffee and stay awhile. I enjoy talking over hard things with you. Even if we come to no conclusions, I think it is helpful and good. We can continue with the other side of this: being a part of God's creation.