Brad Alles

So if God loves us and created us on purpose, what were we supposed to do? Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” God told Adam and Eve that they had two purposes. The first was to “be fruitful and increase in number”—in other words, to have children. Here is the foundation of marriage and families for today. The second purpose was to “fill the earth and subdue it”—in other words to build societies and civilizations. Here is the foundation for everything else we do today, whether it is farming, business, education, or anything else.

These two purposes of filling the earth with families and subduing it with civilizations are done daily when we get married, start families, begin jobs, start new companies, and invent new devices. Author and teacher Nancy Pearcey points out that although these things are common to all people, they reveal our true nature, the way God created us to function. Even after God has saved us in Christ Jesus, we are still called to honor Him on earth in whatever we do. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God,” and in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” If you have ever noticed why you get bored, you may come to realize that you were made to do something. That’s because God made you to work—but not in a negative sense. Work is not a bad thing; remember that Adam was made to take care of the garden as a job before the Fall into sin. Genesis 2:15 says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

After the Fall, however, work was hard and man would eat by the sweat of his brow, but work in and of itself is not bad. How wonderful to know that you are loved by God, made with this purpose: to bring honor and glory to Him in all you do, and by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us. In this way we continue to reflect God’s creative nature, which started in the first six days of creation. God’s children are acting like their heavenly Father!

Remember earlier when we addressed the tests for worldviews: if a worldview isn’t helpful in life, it is like a map with huge holes in it. This third test is on display here. Secular Humanism and evolution give us no purpose for life, yet Christianity does. The Christian map is helpful and relevant for navigating through life—there is purpose and meaning to our existence and all we do! Nancy Pearcey said it best in her book Total Truth: “No one can live without a sense of purpose or direction, a sense that his or her life has significance as part of a cosmic story…but at some point, these temporal things (earning a degree, getting a job) fail to fulfill the deeper hunger for eternity in the human spirit…Our hearts are restless…until we find our rest in Him.”