God's Design: How Life Was Meant to Work
Created to live with God, cultivate His creation, and participate in His loving reign
by Raimer Rojas
by Raimer Rojas
Why did God give humanity so much responsibility? Why can we accomplish extraordinary things yet struggle to live together in peace? And what is Jesus restoring? The Bible tells a story that begins with God's good creation and ends with all things made new. At the center of that story is Jesus Christ. God created human beings in His image to live with Him and care for His world under His loving reign. But humanity turned away from its Creator. Our abilities remained, while sin distorted our desires and ambitions.
God did not abandon His creation. He promised to bless the nations through Abraham. Through His covenant with Israel and the messages of the prophets, God continued unfolding His plan of restoration. That promise finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who reconciles us to God and forms us through His Spirit to live under His reign.
Jesus is not simply the solution to what went wrong. He is the One through whom all things were created and for whom they exist (Colossians 1:16). Through Him, we understand both our original calling and our ultimate destiny.
The six movements that follow are not steps we must complete. They provide a framework for understanding God's design, what went wrong, and how He is restoring His creation through Jesus:
Gift → Responsibility → Distortion → Promise → Restoration → Participation
The purpose is not merely to understand the biblical story, but to see it through the lens of Jesus Christ and learn to live in alignment with God's design — participating in His purposes and making His goodness visible and tangible in the world.
What has God already given us?
Before we accomplish anything, we are already beneficiaries of God's generosity. We didn't create the sun, the water cycle, or the soil that sustains our food. We arrived in a world already providing what we need.
Jesus points to this generosity when He says that God sends sunshine and rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). Christians sometimes call this common grace — God's goodness extended to humanity regardless of whether people acknowledge or follow Him.
His gifts extend beyond nature. People everywhere can experience friendship, love, and meaningful work. Through Jesus, we discover their deeper significance: all things were created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16). We are already living within the blessings of God's goodness long before we recognize their Source. Yet God's generosity is not only something we receive. It also provides the foundation for the responsibility He has entrusted to us.
Our Calling: We are called to receive God's goodness with gratitude, enjoy His gifts, and extend His generosity to others.
What did God create us to do?
Genesis 1:26–28 tells us that God created humanity in His image and entrusted us with authority over the earth. Genesis 2:15 describes humanity's responsibility to work and care for the garden. Together, these passages help explain what Christians call the cultural mandate — our God-given responsibility to cultivate, develop, and care for His creation.
God placed Adam and Eve in a good world, but not one where every possibility had already been developed. Humanity was commanded to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and exercise responsible dominion. God gave us minds capable of learning and creating. We can discover how His world works, build upon the knowledge of others, and develop new possibilities.
Humanity was created not merely to enjoy God's world, but to participate in cultivating and caring for it under His authority. We see this calling expressed in farming, medicine, education, and technology. Such work can contribute to human flourishing and reflects abilities rooted in our identity as God's image-bearers.
The cultural mandate gives dignity to human work and creativity. Yet dominion does not mean unrestricted control. We remain accountable to God for how we treat His creation and the people who inhabit it. The goal is not simply to accomplish more, but to cultivate what is good in ways that honor God and benefit others.
Nor can human progress establish God's kingdom. Our achievements matter, but they cannot bring about His saving reign. Jesus shows us what authority rightly exercised looks like. He leads through love and service rather than exploitation (Mark 10:42–45). This distinction matters because human ability, however remarkable, does not guarantee that we will use it wisely. Knowing how to make things work is not the same as knowing how to make life flourish.
Our Calling: We are created to cultivate and care for God's world, develop the abilities He has given us, and help create environments where people and communities can truly flourish.
Why doesn't human achievement produce true flourishing?
The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 illustrates the problem. The people demonstrated remarkable skill and ingenuity. They could build, organize, and cooperate toward an ambitious goal. Yet their ambition had become disconnected from their Creator.
Their stated goal was: "...so that we may make a name for ourselves..." — Genesis 11:4 NIV. Their problem wasn't their ability to build or work together. It was the direction of their ambition. They sought greatness and security on their own terms rather than trusting God.
Humanity's deepest problem was not a lack of intelligence, creativity, or ability. It was the condition and direction of the human heart:
"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. " — Genesis 6:5 NIV
"...every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood..." — Genesis 8:21 NIV
We see the same tension today. A society may create tremendous wealth while exploiting people. It may develop remarkable technology while struggling with loneliness and division. It may achieve extraordinary advances in medicine while neglecting the dignity and care of its most vulnerable members. This is the difference between functional success and holistic flourishing:
Functional success means accomplishing something effectively.
Holistic flourishing means living in ways that reflect God's goodness, justice, and love.
Jesus identifies the deeper problem when He teaches that evil actions arise from within the human heart (Mark 7:20–23). Human progress can improve our circumstances, but it cannot heal the human heart or undo sin's damage. If humanity cannot restore itself through greater knowledge or achievement, restoration must begin with God.
Our Calling: We are called to recognize where sin has distorted our desires and ambitions, turn from self-centered living, and realign our hearts and purposes with God.
How did God begin restoring what humanity had distorted?
Immediately after Babel, Genesis 12 introduces a striking contrast. At Babel, people seek to make a great name for themselves. But God calls Abraham, promises to make his name great, and declares that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1–3). The answer to humanity's rebellion begins not with human achievement, but with God's initiative and grace.
Abraham's descendants, Israel, received God's covenant and law. Yet their history revealed humanity's continuing need for forgiveness and transformed hearts. God's promise therefore pointed beyond external guidance toward an inward renewal that only He could bring about.
Through the prophets, God promised to forgive sins, give His people new hearts, and place His Spirit within them (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Ezekiel 36:26–27). These promises find their fulfillment in Jesus. Through Him, Abraham's promised blessing reaches the nations, including the gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:14). What humanity could not accomplish through its own abilities, God would accomplish through His Son.
Our Calling: We are invited to trust God's faithfulness, depend on His grace rather than our own achievements, and become people through whom His blessings reach others.
What does Jesus restore, and how?
Jesus is the turning point of the entire story. The One through whom creation came into being entered His creation as a human being (John 1:1–14). In His life, we see the Father's character and what faithful human life under God's reign looks like. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus deals with our sin, reconciles us to the Father, and opens the way for new creation (Romans 5:8–11; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23). He is the risen King, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given (Matthew 28:18).
Jesus restores more than our relationship with God. Through His Spirit, He transforms how we live and carry out our everyday responsibilities (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is spiritual formation into Christlikeness — the ongoing work of becoming more like Jesus. The One through whom we were created is also the One through whom we are restored to our calling. And because Jesus restores us not merely as isolated individuals but as His people, this transformation takes shape in shared life and mission.
Our Calling: We are called to live in communion with Jesus, be transformed into His likeness through the Holy Spirit, and increasingly reflect His character in everyday life.
What does our original calling look like as followers of Jesus?
Jesus calls people to follow Him, brings them into a community, and sends them into the world. In Matthew 28:18–20, He commands His followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey His commands. This is the Great Commission.
The cultural mandate is humanity's shared responsibility to cultivate and care for God's creation as His image-bearers.
The Great Commission is Jesus' command to His followers to make disciples through the gospel.
One concerns our responsibility within creation; the other concerns helping people become followers of Jesus. These callings are distinct but connected. As disciples become more like Jesus, His character increasingly shapes how they fulfill their everyday responsibilities.
This connection becomes visible in ordinary life. A parent learns to lead with patience. A business owner treats workers fairly. A community cares for its vulnerable members. Jesus calls His followers the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13–16). We do not establish God's kingdom through our achievements. We bear witness to the reign of Jesus, whose kingdom is already at work and whose fullness is still to come.
Our witness is expressed through our character and words, our actions and reactions. Not perfectly, but through a growing pattern of faithfulness as the Holy Spirit forms us into the likeness of God's Son (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
How do we participate in God's purposes today?
The biblical story moves toward a renewed heaven and earth where God dwells with His people. They will serve Him and reign forever (Revelation 21:1–5; 22:3–5). This future gives direction to how we live in the present. Until then, our calling is not to produce a perfect world through human effort. It is to live faithfully under Jesus' reign, allowing His Spirit to shape who we are becoming and how we serve others.
This invites us to consider three questions:
Communion: Am I learning to live in dependence upon Jesus rather than independently of Him?
Formation: Is His character increasingly shaping my inner life, words, actions, and reactions?
Participation: Are people experiencing the goodness of Jesus through the way I live, relate to others, and carry out my responsibilities?
These questions bring God's design into everyday life. They direct our attention beyond what we accomplish to who we are becoming and what others experience through us.
The invitation is not merely to understand how life was meant to work. It is to know the Creator through Jesus, become like Him, and join Him in making His goodness visible and tangible in the world.