Charles Burgan is in Year 2 of the Send SFL Residency Program at Family Church.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

It is in this Scripture that the Bible begins bringing to light that we are all created in the image of God, created to rule creation. God’s design was to make us unique and stand out and bring glory to Him – this amazing reality that we are truly bonded with Him. Our minds can only start to understand the personal relationship that He was carving into us from the very beginning.

Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the sea.  (Psalm 8:5-8)

God’s love for us stands out and shows that He simply did not create man without a purpose. He created man to glorify His name and to show the great love He has to offer us.

When we seek to bring glory to God, we start to be filled with a love and joy that can be felt through no other act. When we seek Him and have the faith of a child, we begin to feel His embrace on our minds, hearts and souls like no one else’s. If our minds are filled with ways to glorify our great God, He will feel our joy. If our hearts are full with love for Him, like a son for his father, He will be filled with gladness. When we begin to pursue God’s true design, we will feel a peace and joy throughout our lives that can be found nowhere else. He is our Creator, the one who brought us to life from dust and breathed air into our nostrils. He gave us everything when He did not have to give us anything. He did not need us; we need Him.

His love is woven in everything we are; for when He created man, He also created woman.

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh.  (Genesis 2:22-24)

You can clearly see a perfect design through the creation of woman for man; in unity together in marriage we ultimately bring glory to God. Together as man leads his wife and his house, his new companion and their unity further strengthen their bond with God.

In marriage we are designed to create family. The promise of family and the formation of respect for one another remind us of the command of Life. We should raise our children with the discipline of who we are in God and His love for us. We have a great responsibility to rule over and re-enforce His perfect creation.  The love in our hearts and minds matters and our family should always be an outward example.

Understanding God’s perfect design for all is of great importance to our individual salvation. If we are not aware of His plan, then how are we ever to bring glory to His great and powerful name? We must never lose sight of this, because without Him in our lives, we are truly lost and will never experience the love and joyful abundance of life on earth or in Heaven. Always, we should be reminded that He owes us nothing, yet He pursues us with great passion.  Even in our sin, He sent His only Son to die on the cross to restore our unity in Him and His magnificent design. In faithful obedience, we shall pursue Him with a love like no other and hold our faith to Him above all others. May our lives always be the example of how we pursue glory for our God.