God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature.”
- Genesis 1:28

Think about something that you have poured a ton of time and energy into that you’re perhaps most proud of: that wooden table you built for your kids, that killer presentation you put together for a client, the garden you’ve cultivated and developed over years and years.

Now imagine giving someone else the authority to mess with it.

The story of Genesis 1 is of a generous God who creates this good, good, and very good creation. He rejoices over it and delights in it. And if we pause for even just a moment, we can’t help but agree—this world is dizzingly and wonderfully well put together—and good!

Nature in and of itself would be enough to show us the generous heart of God who does not create a miserly world but a beautiful one. But what God does next takes it one step further.

He gives this beautiful and beautifully-crafted world over to humans. They are to have authority, dominion, to rule over it. It’s a borrowed authority. But it’s a real authority nonetheless.

God pours his love and energy into making a cosmos that is so vast human beings might exist for millions of years and still never explore the fullness of it. And yet he gives these little creatures authority over it.

This is the generosity of God. He not only makes a wonderful creation, he generously shares it with people whom he makes in his image that they might tend to it in a way that he would: with a generous loving care.

What does it tell us about God that he shares his authority with us? What do you think it means for us as humans to reflect God’s image in how we care for the earth he’s entrusted to us?