A Bible For Billie

I used to float, now I just fall down

I used to know, but I'm not sure now

What I was made for, what was I made for?

Cause I don't know how to feel, but I wanna try

I don't know how to feel, but someday, I might.

“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish

_______

If you have joined me in reading through the Bible in one year, you are nearly halfway through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The book’s Hebrew name is “Bereshit”, which just means something like “When all that began, began…” or “In the beginning…” Genesis is a book about blessing, about how and why God blesses. And the primary mechanism through which God blesses in Genesis is fertility. So, you have been reading a great deal about the birth of the world, the first breaths of the first humans, the birth of the first brothers, and even the birth of the nation of Israel. God’s nature is to bless…but blessing is always inseparably linked to purpose.

_______

This is why the Billie Eilish lyrics above are so disheartening. See, I am convinced that humans cannot know their purpose outside of God’s plan for their lives, as revealed in the Bible. And I find it depressingly ironic that as each passing generation rejects the identity given to humans in Genesis, they increasingly lose all sense of identity.

In all of the most developed countries in the world, young people are suffering from a tragic, devastating identity crisis. Devastating because so many no longer see how life could be worth living. Tragic because the solution to their crisis is as plain as can be but they are believing the lies of a godless culture.

_______

There are only two options:

1. We believe the identity we are given in the book of Genesis 1-2, or
2. We don’t.

And to choose option #2, is to choose a life of hopelessness, confusion, and despair.

_______

On the second part of the 6th day of creation, God creates the pinnacle of all created things: us!

But it doesn’t end there.
We are not only created by God.
We are created for responsibility.

And it is only in this responsibility that we find our purpose. So, what is our purpose? What is our responsibility? Look closely at Gen. 1:27-28:

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “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 that moves on the ground.”

Men and women. Boys and girls. The highest purpose of your life is, first, to “be fruitful” and “increase in number”.
That is to say, “Get married and have kids.” As we will see throughout Genesis, God’s plan to save the world is through the family, through husbands and wives who become fathers and mothers who then teach their children to follow the Lord. Throughout human history, everyone knew and accepted this until 15 minutes ago.

Secondly, we are to have dominion, to rule over all of Creation. Archimedes asked for “a lever and a place to stand”. It’s like God has given you your very own corner of the Garden of Eden. And he is trusting you to care for it as if He were caring for it. After all, you are made in his image. I like to call Gen. 1:28 the responsibility mandate.

_______

Genesis 1:28 is not a suggestion. It is not one option among many. It is a command. These are marching orders from your Creator. Too many young people now consider marriage and children as optional, as one menu item in the cafeteria of life.

Of course, I don’t know Billie Eilish personally. But I do know that, unless she is called to celibacy, she will only find “what she was made for” when she marries a godly man, has children, and teaches them about Jesus. This is who God created her to be.

Few things are more heartbreaking than young people with nothing to live for…and yet, everywhere they turn (sometimes even in the Church), they are being told to reject the responsibility mandate and to live for their own happiness…which is the surest path to unending unhappiness.

_______

(Now, I recognize that God has called some people to the rare, special gift of celibacy for the purpose of even deeper devotion to God and the mission of His Kingdom. I think this type of celibacy should be celebrated. I have also known married couples who would be thrilled to have biological children but, for reasons they cannot explain, it is not possible. In both circumstances, God gives a special grace and a special calling.)