Genesis 1:26-31
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “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.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2:15-25
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
TEN POINTS TO PONDER
Much of the creative work in Genesis 1 is separating, categorizing, and gathering. God is an unbelievable artist, AND He is highly organized.
All of the living creatures in Genesis 1 were created “according to their kind.” This simple phrase flies in the face of naturalistic evolution.
Although they are living creatures, God gave no commands or instructions to the plants or animals (this implies something important about will). This is one more critical distinction between humanity and all other life forms on earth.
After completing creation, God invited Adam to freely indulge in his abundant generosity. The same invitation extends to us. When we focus on what God has already provided, we will be far less likely to worry about what He hasn’t given us.
In chapter 3, Adam and Eve’s reluctance to acknowledge or fill themselves with God’s abundant supply ultimately leads them into sin.
Don’t be controlled by your urges. Don’t be controlled by the words or behaviors of other people. Don’t be controlled by fear or anger. You cannot rule over creation if you cannot rule over yourself.
Your appetites can be controlled. Appetites can be suppressed, developed, and even eliminated. But if the wrong appetites are indulged, they will often become addiction.
Your life will be formed by whatever you fill it with.
We all need people in our lives with whom we can have no secrets and feel no shame.
You are constantly multiplying something in the lives of people around you. You must choose whether you are multiplying light or whether you are multiplying darkness.
7 EASY QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD’S PLAN
I love Staples. (the store, not the small metal fastening device)
I love it because I have an unhealthy obsession with personal organization tools. I could stand in the “planner section” of Staples for hours and browse the different notebooks, forms, tools, etc. which are available. It’s a sickness.
I’ve read all the important books about planning. I’ve been a fan of Stephen Covey since I was a child. I had a Franklin planner before Franklin and Covey merged. I know GTD inside and out. And I know that this paragraph makes 0 sense to most people. I apologize.
I love planning.
James 4:13-15 says, Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
When I make plans, if I don’t align my plans with God’s purpose; I’ve missed the mark. My plans are like a mist, but God’s purposes last forever.
Proverbs 19:21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
So how can I include God in my plans (it would be better to say, “How do I submit my plans to Him?”)? Here are 7 questions I can ask each night before I make my plans for tomorrow. Think about these questions for yourself. Or maybe, create your own questions that will help you align your future plans with the purposes of God:
- How might I demonstrate my love for God tomorrow (with my heart, my mind, my strength, or my soul)?
- How might I contribute to the body of Christ tomorrow (by using the resources which God has given me)?
- How might I demonstrate Christ’s love to those around me tomorrow?
- How might I influence someone else to do good tomorrow?
- What roles has God ordained for me to fill during this stage of my life?
- What actions might I take that will further God’s kingdom rather than my own?
- What might I do to live out the truths I’ve been learning from God’s Word?
That was easy.
Click on the image to download the DiscipleQuest PDF
The DiscipleQuest PDF includes 7 days of verse study prompts. You can use these seven studies to dig deeper into what the Bible teaches about living on purpose:
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
- Acts 20:24
- Micah 6:8
- Hebrews 12:1-2
- Proverbs 4:25-27
- 1 Timothy 4:7
- Colossians 3:23-24
Use these questions as journal prompts or as conversation starters with a group of friends or a Bible study group:
Read Genesis 1:26-28.
Why does it matter that humans were the only living beings made “in the image of God”?
Using only 5 words or less (in a sentence or a list), how would you describe the purpose for which God created humanity?
How can a person be “fruitful and multiply” other than by having children?
Read Genesis 2:15-17.
What can you learn about God from these verses? What can you learn about humanity?
God gave humanity the freedom to eat from every tree but one. Yet they ate from the one. Why are humans so likely to focus on what they can’t have instead of focusing on how much they already have?
Have everyone name one good thing that God has filled their life with.
Read Genesis 2:18-22.
What can you learn about God from these verses? What can you learn about humanity?
Is it still true that “it is not good for man to be alone”? Why or why not? What are the dangers of being alone?
Who are some of the people God has placed in your life to help you focus on Him? How can you make healthy investments into those relationships? How can you multiply God’s goodness in their lives?
What is one thing you are going to do this week to live within the purposes that God created you for?
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