Chapel Recap: The Eternal Creator and the Source of Life

Today in chapel, Sam Allberry opened Scripture to the very first verse of the Bible — Genesis 1:1. Allberry explained that we encounter two essential truths about God in this verse: He is eternal, and He is the Creator.

Allberry began by reminding us that God existed before anything else. “Nothing gives Him life; He is the source of life,” he said. Everything that exists depends on Him, yet He depends on nothing. Still, Allberry emphasized, this eternal God is not remote or uninterested. He is deeply involved in His world and in the lives of His people.

“Behind everything, we have a God who is eternal,” Allberry said, “and without Him, we will feel restless about our own lives.” When people build their identities on temporary or physical things, they eventually discover how fragile and fleeting those foundations are. “If this world is all there is,” he observed, “life feels too short.”

Allberry then reminded the audience that “Creation declares the glory of God; it doesn’t contain the glory of God.” Everything we experience points beyond itself to the Creator who made it. “God is the source of all that we have,” Allberry continued, “and if we live without the God of Genesis 1:1, we will struggle to find meaning, purpose, and identity.”

Human beings, he explained, need meaning that comes from outside of themselves. Genesis 1:1 shows that we are not the center of the universe — God is. Yet this truth is not meant to diminish us but to free us. When we root our identity in the eternal Creator, we discover peace that temporary things can’t provide.

Allberry closed by highlighting a profound truth implicit in the verse: God is near. “If God didn’t need to make the world,” he said, “then He made it purely because He wanted to.” Creation itself is an act of grace and love from the Creator.