The Big Picture: Co-Creators

Oboedire

by

Practicing Faith

Special to United Methodist Insight | March 17, 2026

Life as God intends for it to be doesn’t occur automatically or intentionally. We are co-creators with God, responding to revelation through our words and deeds.

When St. Augustine said, “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not,” he was voicing the reality that goes all the way back to Eden. It was there that God brought Adam and Eve into the holy partnership of tending the garden so that it would thrive and continue.

One of the great perversions of Scripture is turning the idea of dominion into domination. Domination is a fallen-world concept (Genesis 3:16), beginning with Adam’s rule over Eve and then being read into the whole of creation by those who want to exploit the earth for sordid gain. It is no longer farfetched to think that in the Anthropocene Age [1] humankind may destroy itself through unbridled hubris.

But before that happens, and hopefully as a means to prevent our extinction, we must recover the idea that we are co-creators with God in the sacred stewardship of creation. We are here to tend creation (everyone and everything), not destroy it.

The one-word summary for this is justice, used directly (Hebrew: mishpat) and indirectly (as a concept) over 2,000 times in the Bible. It is living in ways that promote human thriving—particularly in ways that are inclusive, equitable, fair, and engaged in promoting the common good. It’s summed up in the word thriving, and what Jesus called abundant living (John 10:10).

As co-creators with God, we are to “do justice” (Micah 6:8), which Jesus summed up as loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39), elevating an element of the Law  (Leviticus 19:18) into a great commandment.

Herein is the basis of our resistance to evil: we are co-creators with God in the tending of a creation meant to be good, and stay that way. We have our job description, a proactive injection of godliness into the fallen-world’s bloodstream of greed. It is the mixture of pastor and prophet for the wellbeing of all. There is no higher call or greater good than this.

[1] The Anthropocene Age is a term given to an era said to have begun roughly in the mid-20th century CE. It is the period when human activity significantly impacts the earth, with the potential misuse of the influence leading to the extinction of humankind.

The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper is retired seminary professor who taught for 32 years in the disciplines of Spiritual Formation and Wesley Studies. Author and co-author of more than fifty books.. He is also a retired Elder in The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.