What makes you the person you are today? Is it the decisions you’ve made or the big events in your life?
Each and every one of us is amazingly unique. However, our unique identity isn’t something that begins with us. Our origin story helps us navigate who we are today and choose who we want to be tomorrow. Our origin sets a direction for our lives–both in practical ways and on a deeper, more personal level. The question of our origin, though, isn’t an easy one to answer: things just seem to get murky the farther back we go. There’s your father, then grandfather and his father before him, and his father and grandfather before that, until we finally can’t see back any further. What then? Where does our story begin?
At the beginning of Earth’s story, “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Gen. 1:1–5) From the first words of the Bible’s creation account, it is very clear that our story doesn’t begin with millions of years of evolution; our story begins with a loving God and His desire to create.
Genesis goes on to tell us how God created a beautiful world, filling it with all kinds of plants, animals, fish, and birds. Everything was perfectly designed. God, looking over His work at the end of each day, proclaimed that all His creation was “very good.” (Gen. 1:31) And then, on the sixth day of creation, God set out to complete His creative work through one final act of creation–making human beings. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26)
In a unique process, God stooped down to the ground and sculpted a man out of the dirt. He prepared the crowning creation for this beautiful and perfect world. This creation story shows us that there’s something different about humanity. Think: God chose to form each human individually–personally shaping every facet of their being. He cares about each of His creatures, but for mankind, things were different. Luke 3:38 tells us that Adam was God’s son, and we can have no doubt that Adam and Eve were cherished members of God’s family.
God didn’t have to create our earth, and He didn’t have to put sentient beings on it. Yet even though He didn’t have to create humanity, He chose to. God’s creation of mankind was the result of an overflow of love and a desire for companionship. God took special care to create the first humans because He loved them and wanted them to know that they had value and were deeply loved. He created a beautiful world and gave it to Adam and Eve as proof of His love and care for them. In the creation of this world, we have clear evidence of the identity God has given to humanity–we are children of God (1 Jn. 3:1).
That identity hasn’t changed over the thousands of years since our creation, either. Countless times, God has affirmed His fatherly love for us. Even though our mistakes and corrupt natures have separated us from Him, Jesus made a way at Calvary for us to be redeemed from our sins through Him. He paid the ultimate price for our salvation.
Friend, you are not an accident–you are God’s masterpiece, knit together by God in your mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13–14). Your life has incredible value and meaning in God, regardless of what others may say or of the things that have shaped it up to this point. At the end of the day, though, it’s still up to you to decide what you want to allow to shape your identity. God will not force you to accept Him. The choice is yours to make. Do you choose to let yourself be defined by your life choices and the fickle fate that comes your way, or will you accept the identity God has given you at creation and let God make you His child?