SQJ Taipei

Even though Sean C. already won the contest… the main reason for posting the quotes from Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures is that I like them and think you might also. So… there are 2 left and I’ll go ahead and post them even though you can’t win anything any more.

Previous Quotes:
Quote of the POSK #1
Quote of the POSK #2
Quote of the POSK #3

From: Green Finger of God - Maurice Sinclair

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God’s purpose as it relates to development find its echoes throughout the Scriptures. The greatest consummation is found suggestively in the book of Revelation, and the first references occur in the opening chapters of Genesis. God said to man, newly created, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion… over every living thing… I have given you every plant for food.” This first great commission given to man was a commission to develop. It was world-wide in its scope, but it was to have a direct application to his immediate surroundings.We read that God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden “to till it and to keep it.” The suggestion here is that man was to have an active role in development, and that he was to start his work where God had put him. He had a global, but also a local, responsibility. Are we then to imagine that Eden was the location of the first development project? In fact a far greater enterprise preceded it. The whole creation is presented as a work of cosmic development. In the beginning the earth was “without form and void,” but with a craftsman’s skill God progressively shapely filled, organized, beautified and peopled it. The framework of the “days” of creation make us think of one who “goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening.” This master craftsman rests, having accomplished his task; like a great artist, he stands back to appreciate his canvas. The writer to the Hebrews adds a final comment: “The builder of all things is God.”

In Scripture the Creator is revealed to us as the great Developer, and the development commission is given to man created in his image. It is within man’s nature to be creatively engaged in development, because that activity is part of God’s nature too. In this respect, as in others, man is called to reflect the divine genius.