January 15: We are God’s Offspring

When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He never intended them to leave. Instead He wanted the garden to spread all over the earth. God wanted them to spread worldwide in the character of the Garden-God’s presence, light and truth. God said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it”(Gen. 1: 28). This was the overreaching purpose for man’s dominion over the earth. Isaiah 11: 9 says, “The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”.

God shares His authority with humans because they are His offspring. He didn’t create men and women to be servants but to be sons and daughters who are wholeheartedly involved in running the family business. God has always wanted His children to help fulfill His purpose. Jesus told His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). The father wants to share His purposes with us. This means that He doesn’t want man to work for Him but rather to work with Him. The Bible calls us, God’s fellow workers (2 Cor. 6:1). In the original Greek, “fellow workers” means, those who co-operate, who help with, who, “work together.’’ We should think of humanity’s dominion as a joint purpose with God based on mutual love and the relationship of sons and daughters to their heavenly father. Note: We should be working with God rather than for God.

Prayer: Our father, I can call you father because of your love and your creation of humanity as your sons and daughters. Thank you for sharing your dominion with us, in the name of your Son, Jesus.

Today’s reading: Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10: 1-20

We're God's Co-workers on Earth.