Stifled

(photo from kellychastain.com)

We are all created, by God, with such vast potential that as we are, we cannot wrap our head around all that we can be. And when we become what we couldn’t see yesterday, we still cannot comprehend what we can be tomorrow. We compromise when we surrender to the worldly idea that what we see in our reflection is all there is to us; all that there will ever be in the framework of what we call, “me”.

Being designed in the very image of God, we not only have creative potential, we are creative potential. So it’s not just a matter of what we can do with what we’ve been given, but of what and who we are. We are not human doings, we are human beings.

An apple tree, in all its splendor, gets noticed for what it can produce; beautiful apple blossoms and delicious apples. But whether there is fruit on the tree or not, it’s still an apple tree. Whether we appear to be contributing much to the world around us, we are still people.

We are the crowning glory of God’s creation, not that we were necessarily created to be better that everything else He created, but that we are created to be above the rest.

In the creation account we read: “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”” – Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)

I don’t believe for a minute that God wanted us to destroy or be cruel to the life  He put here on earth for us to rule over, but rather, to take care of it, to cherish it and to respect it.

I believe He created us to be power-filled, not impotent and self-deprecating. Power can be usurped, abused and surrendered. God’s Word tells us that the first humans yielded the authority He gave us to an enemy, who crept in with subtlety and deception. Now, of course, being the question-asker I am, I have plenty of questions about this whole scenario, but those questions don’t discount the reality that it happened.

At the point of surrender, our power and authority became perverted and misused, mocked and questioned, even thrown back into the face of our Creator.

Yet, our potential remains. We are still God’s image-bearers, though His image has been tarnished and twisted. And though His image is marred, He remains the same as He’s always been; perfect.

My reflection looks nothing like me if I stand before a dirty, smudged and cracked mirror. Yet if I believe I am as I see that reflection, I’m already defeated before I begin to grow into all I was created to be.

The result of believing the lies the enemy speaks into our lives? His plan to “…steal, kill and destroy…” is put into motion. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ redeems us from that plan. (John 10:10)

An acorn can sit on our windowsill and forever be an acorn. However, some will fall to the ground and grow into mighty oak trees. Unlike the acorn, our potential includes choice.

Are you metaphorically sitting in a window, enduring the world around you; are you settling for the enemy’s plan? Or are you choosing to look into your God-given potential and maturing into all that God has for you and for us, through you?