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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Yet God’s creative work did not stop there.

He did not create the universe, set it into motion, then step back and let things take their course.

For by Him all things were created…and in Him all things hold together.

All creation was brought forth out of Himself and all creation is sustained by Him.

His presence is here, all around us, intimately close to us and yet also other than us. Other than creation.

He is still creating, still sustaining. He is constantly “bringing forth”.

This is not pantheism. God is not His creation.

Sustaining does not equal being.

Sustaining also does not equal controlling.

We still make our choices, live our lives, do what we were created to do.

Yet on a deeper level, God is sustaining us while we do what we were created to do.

We work on different levels. God has His work and has given us work to do. He has given all of creation work to do.

Perhaps we are the only ones who can refuse that work.

For God is other than His creation.

Too often we make Him the same, just bigger.

He is not the same, and we do well to remember it.

He has given us work to do, and while we are to obey and do that work He has given us to do, we are deceived if we believe we do that work on our own.

For while we work, doing what we were created to do, God is also at work, sustaining all things , holding all things together within Himself.

May that truth give you rest, for you are never outside of the sustenance of God.

You are never outside of God Himself.

Art Credits: Photograph of space by NASA; all other photographs copyright 2018 Made Sacred