Today’s reading: Genesis 1:28 and Ephesians 2:10
Genesis 1:28
King James Version
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Ephesians 2:10
King James Version
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
After God created humanity, he gave them a series of commands: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over other living things. This call to cultivate the world and exercise dominion is often called the cultural mandate. As God’s image bearers, our vocation is to reflect his nature— as modeled for us in his work of creating— by bringing increased order, structure, vibrancy, and flourishing to this world full of potential. God wants us to steward what he has lovingly given to us as a gift, to responsibly harness nature’s power and innovate for his glory and the good of all creation.
When we read that God rested on the seventh day, we shouldn’t assume that creation was finished or no longer needed development. Instead, he made humans in his image to continue his work and bring life to its God-given potential.
We do not reserve this mandate for “elites”— politicians, pastors, entrepreneurs, etc. No, we all—no matter our rank, ethnicity, age, or vocation—are called to continue God’s work bringing order and vibrancy to our world. God has entrusted humans with the privilege of continuing his work of creation “to be God’s helper in executing to the end the blueprint for his masterpiece.”
Connecting
This cultural mandate gives our work incredible significance since it means to be an extension of God’s work in creation. Still, many of us do not sense that the work we perform each day has a significant meaning or purpose. Some of us even see work as torment and a curse, an obstacle to what’s important: friends, family, hobbies—you name it. But the Bible says that work is good, and the cultural mandate reminds us that the work we participate in points to something far more significant than ourselves, even if we can’t see the bigger picture. Sure, work is tainted now because of the fall, and we are constrained. But as God’s image bearers, we work to contribute to human flourishing and the development of the earth.