One night when the kids came to Dave’s campfire, they found that he was taking small pieces of sticks and weaving string around them so that they were in the shape of a cross. They asked Dave what he was doing, and he said that he was making cross necklaces to give to some of the kids at the camp. The kids at the campfire wanted to help Dave, so he showed them how to weave the string around the sticks. Dave called it ‘lashing’ the sticks together.
Dave told the kids that one of the activities at camp that helped kids learn a little more about God was crafts. Some of the kids laughed when Dave said this. They said that crafts were mostly for kids who were not good at other activities and doing crafts did not teach you anything about God. Dave laughed and pointed out that they were doing crafts right now, making cross necklaces, and they were enjoying it. The kids were embarrassed and admitted that they did like helping Dave make the crosses out of sticks, but they still did not see how they could learn anything about God by doing this.
Dave opened his Bible to Genesis 1:1 (the first verse in the Bible) and read this:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
One of the characteristics of God is that He is creative, He does crafts in a big way! The whole universe and every good thing in it are part of God’s craft project.
In the Bible in Genesis 1:26-27 God says:
Then God said, “Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
God made humans in His image. We do not fully understand all that this means, but we do know that one of the ways we are a little like God is that we are also creative. Humans love to create beautiful things just like God loves to create beautiful things. Our crafts are small, and we make lots of mistakes and nothing we make turns out perfectly, but God creates perfect things, and He does not make any mistakes!
Over the years, many of the greatest artists have used their talents to try to point people to God. In the same way, God’s great creation of the universe is designed to point people to Himself. God wants people to look at this beautiful world and the universe and want to search for God who made it and to find God!
In the Bible in Romans 1:20 it says:
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
God loves to show His creativity, and He enjoys seeing us being creative. Not everyone is creative in the same way. Some are creative doing artwork, such as painting, drawing, carving, and many other forms of art. Other people are creative making programs and games on computers. Still others are creative in music or sports. Some are creative in designing and building all kinds of machines. Others are creative at writing, speaking or teaching. All these things and many others are gifts from God. He gave us these gifts because He wants us to be creative just as He is creative. Use your God-given talents to show your creativity!