God made time. Planets. People, Porpoises. I love the way Genesis just adds in, “He also made the stars.” Easy peasy! It’s all his Creation!
And you’re never more like the Creator, than when you’re being creative! You are creative! All little kids are creative! But life can put out that spark…
Scientists have been trying to be very creative recently. Last week the news was full of Stephen Hawking’s comments and the scientists who made the LHC. Did you read about that?
For those of you who are less technically minded – basically they wanted to smash some particles together at nearly the speed of light.
You know how all atoms are made up of protons, neutrons and croutons? Well they were spinning them round in a big tunnel trying to recreate the Big Bang!
Who put that desire there– the need to be creative like the Creator? It’s just like kids copying Dad isn’t it? We are meant to be creative!
What stops that? What stops us being creative like Him?
We don’t act like him in two ways ;
1) We don’t stop to celebrate a job well done.
Many of us –we don’t know when to say, “That’s good.” Maybe we never think it’s quite good enough? But God kept saying that whenever he created.
But God works, then He says, “I have worked. Now that’s good work!”
He stops, draws a line under what he’s done, and celebrates. He doesn’t just rush on to the next thing on the list. Nor does He try to cram it all in one day – notice that? He just does what needs doing that day, then stops.
2) We don’t get rest (and then wonder why we’re stressed!)
We don’t take rest like he patterned for us on the 7th day. When God was creating, when he was working – do you think he was fully engaged in that? Do you think he was working intently and in a focused way? I should think so. He was DELIGHTING in his work! But when he’d worked. He stopped.
That’s a pattern for the wise to follow – of being fully ON – and fully OFF.
That’s my major learning from the Semi-Circle; the next in out LIFESHAPES that we looked at yesterday in church.
Rather than my life following the tick-tock unceasing rhythm of the clock, God wants my life to be in time with the pendulum that swings from being ON and OFF.
FATIGUE is one of the greatest barriers to prayer and spiritual growth & victory. It’s hard to be like Jesus when you’re sleep deprived!
Let me ask, in the era when we take our Blackberry on holiday: when the average working parent spends twice as long answering e-mails than playing with her children…
How good are you at being fully on and fully off?
God set us a pattern here –He didn’t need to rest (our God does not get weary!) but Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man… so we’d know how to live best – with rest.