Day 1: Imitating Dad

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis 2:5,15 

Have you ever seen some habits (good or not so good) that you just happened to pick from your parents without necessarily being taught? Eating, writing, cooking, talking, and other mannerisms. You’ve probably caught yourself tasting fried plantain for salt, turning your head backwards to reverse a car instead of using the mirrors, or using some  tone of voice or speed of  speech. In Yoruba, you’ll probably hear a phrase loosely translated, “just like his father”. 

For me, it’s wardrobe. My dad’s wardrobe is a cloth haven, but the beauty is the arrangement of these clothes. Each piece of clothing organized by colour and type. By the time I grew up to own my space, I received clothes from my dad and found my wardrobe looking like his.

In our reading today, we see God creating a beautiful world. It’s six days of work. Six beautiful days of putting the world together piece by piece as a picture puzzle. However, through a deliberate act of God we come to understand that certain things have not happened because there was no one to do maximize the creation. 

When man arrives in the garden, everything was set- all he had to do was work on the work. Here, God added another splash of colours on his beautiful picture of creation. 

We don’t work to get, we work because we have. By working what we have, we open up ourselves to the more God has. Man is created into a beautiful world, and  called to do beautiful work; he meets work done and his response is to work it more. 

So, let’s ponder on the following:
What comes to mind when you hear work? Is work only to pay the bills? Would you still work if you had all the money you needed? Why does God work? 

Work is an exercise in responsibility. We don’t work to get; we work because we have. Although in working, we get to have and in having, we get to work even more.

We express our God nature in working. So, work audacious, work motivated. Work with the right mindset. Work as a privilege not a burden. 

Let’s look at our hands today and see all we have, all that has been committed to us. Let us see the work ahead of us not with a sense of burden, but with a sense of privilege. A privilege to show that we are God’s children. We must remind ourselves that work is not a burden to bear but an opportunity to show whose we are. Then our work will provoke the phrase “Just like their Father”. 

Something to Pray About
Pray that God will use the work He has committed into your hands to point the people around you to Himself.

Jide Sokeye

Jide volunteers with the Bible Engagement Team at Sycamore