00:05MADE IN THE IMAGE OF THE CREATOR
00:07The first command God ever gave to human beings was not a rule. It was a blessing. Before the law,
00:15before the commandments, before any instruction about worship or sacrifice, God looked at the
00:21humanity he had just made and said, Be fruitful, multiply, fill and subdue the earth. It was the
00:29first word out of his mouth after creation. I think we often read that verse only as a command
00:35about having children. And while physical reproduction is certainly part of it, there is
00:41something far bigger embedded in these words. We are made in the image of the most creative,
00:47most generative being in existence. God spoke the universe into being. He designed the intricacy
00:54of a cell. He authored the pattern of a leaf and the arc of a galaxy. And then he made
01:01us like
01:01himself and said, Go and be fruitful. Fruitfulness is not something we have to manufacture. It is
01:09something we were designed for. It is written into our spiritual DNA. The question is not whether we
01:16have the capacity to be fruitful, we do. The question is whether we are cooperating with the
01:22God who put that capacity in us. Three kinds of fruitfulness flow from being made in God's image.
01:29Fruitfulness in purpose, using our gifts to make a difference. Fruitfulness in character,
01:35growing in the fruit of the Spirit. And fruitfulness in legacy, planting seeds whose harvest others will
01:42enjoy. This plan will walk through all three. Prayer. Father, thank you that fruitfulness is not a
01:49burden you've placed on me from the outside, it is a reality you have built into me from the inside.
01:56I am made in your image. I carry your creative capacity. Help me to cooperate with what you have
02:03already placed within me, and to bear fruit that honors you in every dimension of my life. Amen.
02:10Reflect. In which of the three areas, purpose, character, or legacy, do you most need to see fruit
02:17right now? Bring that area to God today.
