Create or discover

I believe in a sovereign Creator who is Lord and Definer of all. Everything in the universe — the planet, the laws of physics, the laws of morality, you, me — everything was created by Another, was designed by Another, was given value and definition by Another. God is Creator and Lord, and so He is ultimate. That means we are created and subjects, and therefore derivative and dependent.

"Therefore, we are not free to create meaning or value. We have only two options. We can discover the true value assigned by the Creator and revealed in His Word, the Bible; or we can rebel against that meaning.

This piece is gold and the bolded words eminently helpful, placing godly submission in its true context. When we submit to God's counterintuitive, countercultural, offensive teachings, it's not because we lay our intelligence aside and follow blindly, nor is it because we love conservatism, nor because we are trying earnestly to win the Almighty's favour. Rather it is because - as the post says - God is God, and we are not.

In this light, submission is smart. Of course, as people made in his image, we love creation. And we can create, much and gladly. But we want to write our own rules, write our own story, write it all until we imagine we've toppled the true Author. This would be the way to live if he did not exist. But he does and when we create without reference to him, we do a awful job of it even when we think it reads well.

We are rebelling when we might be discovering. And discovery is not creation's lesser sister when God is real and good. It's an opportunity to do this thing called life well, in a way that works, that's within a culture but not bound to it. A chance to make the absolute most of life as it really is, as the little things we are in it, under the caring hand of the One who pens it all.


H/T Daniel