(Re)creation Takes Time
You know, if you read Genesis 1 carefully, you'll discover that there's a lot more to consider there than just the debate over the length of the days of creation (as important as that is!). In fact, I think the creation account is fairly illustrative of how God recreates us. It reminds us that the process of becoming who God made us to be is, well, a process -- and processes, of course, take time.
But just so you don't think that I'm making all of this up in a mere flight of fancy, let me draw out the textual and thematic connections so that you, dear reader, might see for yourself.
Light and Life
In Genesis 1:1-3, we find an earth that is formless and void, with darkness over the face of the deep. And yet not everything is emptiness, for hovering over that darkness like a dove is the Spirit of God himself -- and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is life. And then, of course, God spoke. "Let there be light." And voila! There was light, and a lot more than 40 solid watts of it (and kudos to those of you who got that little joke).
Now, that might seem straightforward enough, but just you wait. Fast forward to 2 Corinthians 4:6, where Paul wrote these prescient words: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." In other words, when you read Genesis 1:1-3, you're not just reading an account of how light itself came into existence; you're also getting a picture of what happens when God makes human beings into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
God spoke over the nothingness and lifelessness of the void, and there was light; similarly, God speaks into the chaotic darkness of the human heart, and light is given in place of darkness. He does both by his Word -- that is, through the word of Christ. After all, Paul explicitly says that the light we're given allows us to see God's glory in Christ's face. Or to say it another way, through the word, we meet Christ; and in Christ is life, and that life is the light of men (John 1:4).
In other words, when God pulls a Genesis 1:1-3 on our hearts, he's not just making abstract things visible to us; he's giving us life by opening our eyes so that they can truly see him by faith; and the life that we receive by looking to Christ (cf. John 3:14-15) begins to spring up and spill over in all kinds of ways -- just like in the rest of Genesis 1!
Rome… er, Creation… Wasn’t Built In a Day
The rest of Genesis 1 recounts the way that God made the rest of the cosmos: sun and moon and stars, earth and sea and sky, birds and beasts and fish, and then of course mankind as the crown. Now, without wading too deeply into the waters, I think it suffices to say that the process of creation took time (unless, of course, you hold to the rather strange view that it all happened in a single moment -- but enough about my dear hero, Augustine).
"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation" (Genesis 1:31–2:3).
So what's my point in making this particular observation? I suppose that it's actually rather simple: God may recreate us in a moment by a single word (Genesis 1:1-3), but he continues to recreate us over the course of time. In other words, don't expect to be a sinless saint over night. Until Genesis 3, there was nothing sinful or corrupt about Adam or Eve or the world they inhabited -- yet God took time to make everything, and even when he was finished with his work, mankind was still charged with subduing the earth -- which would, you know, take time.
He Will Finish It
Now, just so we’re clear, when God gives us new birth, the transformation will be as drastic as the one that took place in the first three verses of Genesis. There will be new desires and the whole nine yards. But the process of becoming who we are, as Frederick Buechner put it, is often a much longer one that we would probably like. We must learn to diligently cultivate the fruit of the Spirit just as much as Adam and Eve would've had to learn to diligently cultivate the garden of Eden (Galatians 5:22-24).
Or to take another cue from the great apostle, the same power which created everything we read about in Genesis 1:4 and following (Romans 1:20) is the same power which is making us God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). The word used for "things that have been made" in Romans 1:20 is the same word for "workmanship" in Ephesians 2:10. So, all that to say, we shouldn't be surprised that since God took six days to create the cosmos, he might take at least that long to recreate us.
So let us press on with patience, my friends. A new year is ahead of us. Let us not grow weary even as we consider our own weakness -- rather, let us continue to strive for the prize, knowing that the same God who spoke all things into existence is the same God who speaks new light and life into us. He will finish what he started. You might be on day three of six in the recreation story of your life, or you might be on day six and turning the corner into the sabbath seventh. God will complete his works. Trust him. He will do better for you than you can even ask or imagine.
