As we walk through mirroring God’s creative process in our own lives, let’s remind ourselves of one key point.

God created everything to recreate.

Not the recreation you’re thinking of, in terms of a vacation or a day off.

When God made trees, He made sure that trees could make more trees. Dolphins could make more dolphins. And yes, He made sure that humans could make more humans.

But that also reminds us that God made good things, then put His spirit in us so we could make good things.

You are a created being that was designed to create, no matter what your profession or vocation is.

Now that that’s re-established, let’s look at the third and fourth step of God’s creative process in Genesis - production and evaluation.

PRODUCTION

After His announcement and intention to make a thing, He goes about producing it. Sometimes, all He has to do is speak it and it happens. However, when it comes to making man and woman, He gets involved. He actually uses his hands. He is intimately involved in the creation process.

As mini-creators made in the image of God, His example proves that there’s no such thing as wishing yourself into success. If you want success, you have to get busy. You have to be willing to put your hands to the plow. You have to do something that actually makes what you said a reality.

However, while some over-emphasize production and hustle, God isn’t interested in empty work to impress others. He does His work for a reason. Likewise, in every area, make sure that you are working with purpose, as unto Him.

EVALUATION

I got in trouble with this step with a couple of my theology-trained friends.

So let’s be clear - God is always sure and His ways are perfect.

But God does evaluate His work.

So even though He knows what He made is perfect, He still takes a look to make sure that it is good.

How can we say that God checks His work and not assume that everything He made was exactly what was needed? It's because when God made man, and evaluated His work, He decided that it was not good that man was alone. So He took a look at something He did and said, "Good, but not good enough."

If God can evaluate His work and decide it can be improved, maybe we can do the same.

God is okay with starting over. God is okay with saying, "Let's try this again."

So that gives you permission in your creative work, in your daily decisions, to take a closer look. If things don’t line up, start over. You don’t have to bow to perfectionism or an artificial standard. Make sure what you create echoes God’s excellence, and be willing to embrace scrutiny and critique in order to make it better.

Application for Today

Commit to being more intentional in producing things today that bless God and bless others. When you do so, consider how you can apply God's standards to your evaluation of your work.