Agents of Flourishing

Human beings have been given a job to do. God delineates it as follows: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Theologians call this “the cultural mandate,” for it anticipates the ways in which humanity, endowed with the ability to carry out their task, will unleash the capacities of creation. They will build, organize, purpose and repurpose these capacities and what will result is what we call culture, “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively” (New Oxford American Dictionary). It is our pursuit of culture making that marks us out as human, those made “in the image of God.”

But the commission is not a license to do with what one has at one’s disposal however one wishes. Just after the mandate is given there follows language that indicates God’s intention that the human maintain his creation as a place where life can flourish. This notion is supported by the description of Adam being placed in the Garden to “work it and keep it” (Cf. Genesis 2:15). That being said, history is replete with evidences of the abuse of our God-given abilities to harness creation’s potential demonstrating our post-fall inborn tendency to be more inhumane than humane.

In Christ, however, the potential to do what God intended is restored. Our selfish heart can be reformed into a servant’s heart allowing us to more readily create culture in redemptive ways. We can be agents of flourishing that benefits us, the other, and brings glory to God.

This has far-reaching consequences. Picture yourself sitting in the boardroom of some large multi-national corporation that is weighing the possibility of increasing its bottom line by exploiting the desperate need for employment in an “undeveloped” nation. Given the depressed nature of the country’s economy, the corporation can get away with offering less than they ought in wages while putting the work force at risk by not maintaining safe conditions. If you were the Christian on the board you’d need to speak up. That’s what the cultural mandate demands of us.

As this is “easier said than done,” our capacity to respond with courage in such ethically charged situations needs to be fed. This is why Paul instructs as he does when he says “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). Having our own lives shaped by that which promotes flourishing will position us to humanely work and keep the garden, blessing us and those around us, while bringing glory to God. 

I Pledge Allegiance?

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17

Those who wield political power have a just claim upon our lives and energies. They serve as God’s agents in the world, exercising his authority. We are instructed, therefore, to pay taxes in their support and to show them honor (Romans 13:6-7). Praying for them, we lighten their load, and this has the benefit of bringing blessing into our own lives (1 Timothy 2:2). Those in authority have every right to expect from us willing and diligent service in support of maintaining an ordered and just society. We must not, then, resist their rule but accept it as a manifestation of God in the world. This is rendering to Caesar the things that are his.

However, as C. S. Lewis observes, “He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself” (Learning in a Time of War). When we do not maintain an inner loyalty to God we fall prey to seducing patriotism, tradition, social status, or some other of the many worldly values that seek to rule us.

The ability of Daniel and his friends to prosper while in exile was because they seemed to understand what Jesus was talking about. They would give to Nebuchadnezzar what he had a right to expect, but they would not allow him to possess their souls. Throughout their captivity, they remain “inner strangers to the life and culture in which they are outwardly and fully involved” (Ronald Wallace, Daniel, p. 39).

Here is a model for us. We, too, feel the loss of the familiar as we sojourn in what seems to be an increasingly foreign land. Yet, as did the young men of the exile, we can learn the language and wisdom of those around us without forsaking our allegiance to the One who has placed us here.