ATTRIBUTES—-
CREATOR
WHO IS GOD? CREATOR
Don’t you hate it when a meaningful quote is anonymous? Lots of deep, important quotes aren’t credited to any particular author. A statement may connect with you and ring true, but if it doesn’t have an author, it can feel less significant.
Why does a quote have more value when it comes with a signature? Maybe it’s because when we hear one, it helps us to know the author and background behind it. We want to know the speaker to understand the full depth of the thought.
On a larger scale, one of the big questions of life we all have is Who made all this? Who made us? It may seem hard to see sometimes, but God hasn’t left us without His signature on His creation. Paul breaks this down in Acts 17 to a culture who did not believe in one God who created everything—they believed in many gods whom they themselves created. Still, the truth remained: God is the creator of everything. The Word of God makes this essential truth clear: “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need” (Acts 17:24-25).
WHO AM I? CREATED
Some truths are so close to our faces that they are hard to see. If recognizing God as the creator is hard for us and for society in general to see, then remembering that we are created by His design is also a truth we often forget. God knows that because of sin we walk in ignorance and that if we have any hope of knowing Him, He needs to show Himself to us. In Acts 17, Paul preached a worldview that was strange and hard for the Greek people to accept: You don’t make God with your hands like an artist makes a carving. God is the one who makes life and gave us life. These truths are so obvious that stepping back to relearn them shows us how blind we can be. We forget that we were given life. We forget that God is our powerful creator. But it is with these basic truths that God answers our big life questions. When you realize that God created you and that He is not a creator who has left you alone, you can go to Him and get to know both yourself and the purpose He created you for.
WHAT DO I DO? GET TO KNOW YOUR CREATOR
God deals with our spiritual sight problem. Our creator knows that all of us were born blind to the truth because of sin’s curse. The way we see God, the world, and ourselves is naturally off. But He wants to heal our vision and our relationships with Him.
Paul preached, “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him” (Acts 17:30). What does repent mean? That word is essential to getting to know God. It means to turn from your sin.
Think about it—disobedience or sin always comes from doing things our own way. Admitting we are blind, turning from our own way, and asking God to deal with our sight problem is what He desires of us. All this is summed up in the phrase “turn to him.” The best way to turn to God and get to know who exactly He is and who you are is to go to His Word directly. He wrote it by His Spirit and through people who turned to and found Him. Ask God to teach you through His Word. He promises that those who turn to Him will have their spiritual sight and relationship with their creator restored!