God's Finest Creation

Edit 4/21/10: Having seen the billboard again, I realize that it states "God's Finest Creation . . . " instead of "Greatest" and have edited this entry accordingingly.

I saw a large billboard the other day, installed by our state pro-life organization. It pictured a happy, adorable child, and the message was, "God's finest creation—a baby!"

Babies really are miracles. With all the things that can possibly go wrong, it's a miracle that healthy babies are born every day! With all the perils of childhood, it's another miracle that they grow into adults who can then perpetuate the race!

But I don't think they are absolutely God's finest creation. (Please don't accuse me of being anti-baby—I love 'em!) But God doesn't have to make a separate creation of each of the new babies, little Adam's and Eve's made from clay or ribs. Human beings, like the rest of God's bio-creation, have reproduction as part of the Divine plan, and they are capable of "bringing forth according to [their] kind." Life itself is certainly a gift of God, but it does not take special action on His part to begin its formation, in fact, it often happens quite unintentionally!


The greater creation, I think, begins with the second birth. For each "baby Christian" born into the kingdom of God, it is a miracle of being re-created. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17 NIV) No amount of hoping and planning results in the new birth, and neither are people accidentally brought into the Kingdom. "They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God." (John 1:13 NLT) It's a miracle of love and grace—God's finest creation!


MaryMartha


Scripture quotation marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotation marked NLT is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

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