Created with Potential

Genesis 1:26-31

Human beings are a species whose individual members and groups never reach their full potential. The evidence of this truth is found in the fact that people are always looking for ways to improve. Ball players practice long hours hoping to get better. Professional people such as business men and women attend seminars and conferences hoping to learn ways to improve themselves and grow their business. Healthcare workers keep up with the latest discoveries in hope of giving better care to their clients and to lengthen and save lives. These people strive to reach their full potential.

When God created human beings, He created them with the potential to improve the world that God had created. However, human beings lost that potential. What happened? The good news is that God’s Son was born into the world to restore the potential that humankind had lost. At this time of the year Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to make the Father known to us. He showed us what God is like. In addition Jesus came to die for the forgiveness of our sins. In so doing, Jesus restored the potential of humankind that God created in them at the beginning.

The bible records: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1:1-2, NASB). God creates the earth formless and void. The earth is an empty wasteland, but it has potential for life. The earth of its own cannot create life. It has no power of its own to produce life. God’s creation is not yet completed. The remainder of Genesis 1 tells us that God by the power of His Spirit and the authority of His Word completes His creation. The Spirit moves over the surface of the waters, and God speaks a word that causes things to be as God says.

That God does not intend for the earth to remain an empty place is recorded by the prophet Isaiah. “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, But formed it to be inhabited), ‘I am the LORD, and there is none else”’ (45:18, NASB). Thus, the formless and void earth is created with the potential to sustain life, but just as the earth has no inherent power to create life, it has no inherent power to sustain life. In six days God creates life; including plants and animals that live in the waters, on the earth, and in the air. God has one more act of creation that makes His work complete. God creates humankind; male and female. This brings us to our focus text for this article. Man is created with potential.

Before we continue with the text let us make clear what the bible means when it uses the word “man.” The word “man” comes from the Hebrew word “adam” It means human being or mankind. This word is not limited to one individual. Rather, it refers to all human beings. The first man, both male and female is called Adam. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27).

Genesis 1:26-31 describes the power and authority that man is created with. First, man is created in the image and likeness of God. The first man is like God in that his moral character reflects God. Man acts according to the attributes of God. Secondly, God delegates authority to man. “Let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (1:26). God creates mankind and puts them in charge of the unfinished and unrefined product that God has created. The word “dominion” means “to rule.” Man is in charge. This does not mean that man has the right to dominate and abuse. Rather, “dominion” means that man has the responsibility to take care of everything that God puts into his hands. Man is to develop the earth and all its inhabitants to their full potential. Dominion does not mean to tear down; rather, dominion means to build up to full potential. How will this be accomplished?

Before God creates man, God creates plant life and animal life. God creates mankind to rule over His creation. The male and the female are to multiply; and bear children to fill the earth. In Genesis 2:18 we learn that God creates a single man, a male. God sees that the task is too great for one person. “Then God said, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’” Since none of the animals are like the man none of them are suitable to be his helper. The man needs someone that shares his image and likeness just as the man shares God’s image and likeness. They are given everything that they need to live. In addition, the male needs the companionship of the female just as the Father needs the Son. This too is a part of what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God.

God gives man a home separate from the world that he is to take care of. “The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed” (2:8, NASB). God did not create human beings to be united with the animals. Just as God exist outside His creation, Man is to live separate from the world that he is to take care of.

They are given food to eat in order to sustain their physical lives. God gives them specific instructions on what is good for food. “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you: (v. 29). Now, the male and female can reproduce their own kind, children, to fill the earth and together all of mankind can do the work that God gives them to do to take care of His created earth. One more thing is needed if mankind is to reach their full potential. They will need to remain connected to God. There is nothing created on the earth that can maintain man’s union with God. Nothing created can give them power and authority to do the work. Only God’s Spirit can keep us in union with God.

After God makes life possible on the earth (Gen. 2:4-6) God creates man and forms a union with man. “The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (v. 7). God creates man from the same chemical elements that He creates the earth. Thus, when the doctor examines our blood the doctor is looking for the same chemicals in our blood. That’s physical life. Man is more than a physical being. Like God, whose image and likeness that man possesses, man is also a spiritual being. God puts His Spirit into man so that man will always be connected to God. If man is not connected to God, man cannot do the work that God commands him to do. Jesus explains this to His disciples. He says, “‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing’” (Jn. 15:4-5, NASB).

God creates mankind with great potential. We are in the season in which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus comes into the world to forgive us our sins and restore us to the relationship with God that was lost. Next week we will discuss how our relationship with God is fractured causing man to lose the potential that he is created with. We will learn that God plans from the beginning include providing a way for man to be reunited with Him.