Page 20 - MyFaith Mag JULY 2016 Web 001

OPINION
BY WALDO MALAN
I was thinking recently on the immense and endless creativity of God.
There is so much in this thought that I am not too sure where to start.
I suppose the creation of the heavens and earth might be good place
to kick off. Firstly, God reveals Light. And yes, this is not a spelling error,
but Light is intentionally capitalized. This is simply my personal belief
that God revealed His Son, Jesus right at the start of creation. I base my
belief on the writings of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was
made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of
all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it” ( John 1:1-5 NIV).
So, Jesus was with God at the beginning. All things that followed after
day 1 of creation was made through Him. So, without Him in the picture
nothing would have happened. Day 2 saw clouds and oceans created,
full eco-systems to sustain life. Day 3 saw dry land and plants appear.
Talk about creativity! There are so many different types of plants, trees,
flowers and other vegetation that it “freaks the mind”. By this I mean that
my human brain is too small to process the creative power behind the
vast variety and versatility of just a leaf, let alone millions of flowers and
trees! This spectacular display of creativity is followed up by another,
perhaps even more spectacular display of creative genius – all the plan-
ets, stars, galaxies and things yet undiscovered were created in a blast
of explosive creativity. Back to earth on day 5 and millions of birds and
fish are deposited in a brand-new habitat to house them all. I Googled
“total number of animal species in the world” and was rewarded with
this tidbit of information from factmonster.com, “No one knows for sure
how many species of animals exist on Earth. In fact, some 10,000 spe-
cies of animals are discovered each year, with over one and a half million
species already described. Projections for the total number of species on
Earth range from 2 million to 50 million.” Need I say anything more on
the vastness of God’s creativity?
The reason I mention this is to draw attention to the fact that man
(humankind) is created in the image and after the likeness of God. This
tells me that the vastness of God’s creativity is somehow deposited
within me as well! It stands to reason that if God is creative, then so must
I be! At least, that is how I see it. This brings me to the second part of my
thought process, which starts with Jesus giving His followers a simple
instruction, “God authorized and commanded me to commission you:
Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life,
marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy
20 | JULY 2016
Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll
be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of
the age” (Matthew 28:19 MSG).
How do we go out and train other people in the Jesus-way of life? How
do we then instruct newly-baptized people in the God-way of doing
things? Well, simply put… creatively! After all, the creative geniality of Je-
sus is with us to the end of the age! I am not writing here to tell you how
to spread the message of good news. I am also not here to prescribe a
preferred method of doing this. Each of us is different, and each one of
us has a unique plan for our lives blueprinted by God! This plan by God
is backed up further not only with unique skill-sets, gifts and talents, but
also the promise that all of this will be empowered by His Spirit!
I find it so sad that some people have the nerve to point fingers and
make negative remarks on methodologies of delivering the message
that differs from their own. Personally, I am not the type to take a soap-
box and bullhorn to a street corner and talk to passersby. Neither am I
the type to go from door to door handing out pamphlets full of pretty
pictures and lots of words to strangers. However, I am as passionate
about getting the message out as are the street-preachers and door-
missionaries! My calling, gifts and talents lean more towards a more
entertaining method. [Smiley face]. I make music, write songs, compose
poems, and take photographs of people and places. The music I am
involved in, the words I write and the photos I share all tell of the good
news of Christ. This is the way in which I spread the gospel.
I work for an organization that has a local church, but also ministers to
a global congregation by means of television. The group of people I am
involved with all share a common vision – get Jesus into every home
on planet earth, by whatever means you think will work. So we are
involved in making movies – yes, the kind that shows in cinemas – that
carry this message of love and hope. Why? Well, simply because there
might be a single person out there who would never go to a ‘church’ but
has no problem going to see a movie. If the Spirit of God can convict a
movie-goer to pursue a personal relationship with the Father then we
have succeeded in the instruction to instruct! Be it far from me to elevate
methodologies, to promote “fail-safe” and “proven” methods. Rather, I
will celebrate the creativity of God displayed through the creativity of His
people to creatively come up with ways in which to represent the King-
dom to a world that needs God! Are you feeling a little creative today?
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