More than a decade ago, I was walking through a museum in Antalya, Turkey. Camera in hand, I couldn’t resist the urge to capture every artifact I could. I worried I might forget what I saw—but I haven’t forgotten. I still remember a hall filled with sculptures of Greek gods and goddesses. As I photographed the beautifully chiseled face of Aphrodite, the judgmental gaze of a muscular, bearded Zeus bore into my back. I turned around and snapped his picture, too. 

I recalled Paul’s words to the Athenians in Acts 17. He cleverly introduced the “unknown God” (our Creator God) by referencing  statues and Greek poetry (17:23-28). I also thought of the prophet Isaiah’s declaration that all idols are made by human hands. How foolish it is to worship what we create (Isaiah 44:20). 

We believe in one God, but does our belief extend beyond words? While we may not worship Zeus, the gods of “success” and “wealth” are prevalent in our culture and they creep into our churches. Do we bow at the altar of personal fame, wealth and glory? Samuel Logan Brengle warned that things can subtly creep into our lives and mutate into idols if we don’t “watch and pray and keep in the Spirit.”  When we declare “only one God,” we affirm that any god we create can’t compare to the one supreme and everlasting God. We acknowledge that what we fashion with our hands cannot satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. 

But how do we satisfy this longing without creating our own idols? We must observe our thoughts, words and actions. When I’m distracted at home, what keeps me from my family? It could be a fleeting distraction or part of a deeper pattern of redirecting my attention away from where God is leading me. In those moments, I pray, “Lord, have mercy on me.” When we pray these five words, we acknowledge our need for God to save us from the trouble we’ve found ourselves in. When we pray, “Lord, have mercy on me,” we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives. His presence opens our eyes to the vanity of our false gods and reveals the peace that comes from our Creator. Our lives are transformed, and we no longer desire other gods—we have all that we need. 

This is because we have the infinitely perfect God with us. God is perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love.  He is utterly consistent. He needs nothing; He has no “hole” in Himself that He needs to fill. How great, then, is His love for His creation! He doesn’t love to get something from us or to “complete” Himself. He loves us purely and selflessly, simply as Creator and Father (1 John 3:1). There is no dimension of existence in which He is less than perfect. Not only is He perfect in Himself, but He is also perfect for us.

We live in a world of transactions. I give you something, and I expect something back in return. It’s common to hear someone say, “I owe you one,” after doing something for them. We exchange favors and feel so uncomfortable with receiving grace that we resort to sending out “IOUs” when we need something. If we do this with each other, perhaps we can begin to understand how hard it is to break out of the mindset that we must earn God’s love. If we believe that God is infinitely perfect, we become vulnerable to His love. We can’t hide from it. We can’t earn it or pay it back. Likewise, we can’t get more of it by increased transactions. 

What, then, can we do? Our only acceptable action as vulnerable and imperfect people is to surrender to the infinitely perfect God. We sing, “Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.” We sing a plea for creation. 

The last movement of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” begins with a solitary horn quietly expressing a simple melody. This invitation draws in other voices, and the melody rises to a triumphant chorus from every part of the orchestra. When I hear this piece, I imagine God’s creation of the universe—a solitary voice singing a melody of invitation: “Let there be.” The infinitely perfect God did not need creation, yet He created. Out of His perfect love, power, holiness and wisdom He created everything. 

Pause for a moment and reflect on these simple truths: God did not create for wealth, fame or to sustain His own existence. He created purely out of love. As His creation, made in His very image (Genesis 1:26), we are woven with love into the fibers of our being. Love is the motivation behind our creation, and it is an invitation to wholeness. 

This was not a one-time invitation at creation. The Creator God is in the business of “re-creation.” Some may call it “renewal” or “restoration.” It is the truth that the God who created all things can, and does, create new things from the deserts of our lives. It’s when we find ourselves  standing on the edge of the wilderness, in pain and desperation, that a voice cries out: “Make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3 ESV). Like the Israelites, we are sometimes torn from what we know and depend upon. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job and broken relationships are just a few examples of the “exile” that we experience. Yet, in the midst of exile, the Creator says, “You shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:6 ESV). 

The Creator God is more than an explanation for humanity’s existence. He is an attentive fashioner, like a potter, who doesn’t merely create the conditions for our return from exile (Isaiah 40:3-5); He re-creates us! God tells us, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26 ESV). The Apostle Paul confirms this for us in 2 Corinthians 5:17. God re-creates our lives and calls us to love Him and His creation (John 13:35; 15:13). We show our commitment to love by serving others and watching over His creation. The Spirit of God, as an indwelling presence, sustains us and directs our lives. 

Thomas Merton once said that it is written into humanity’s essence to stand as a community and acknowledge our complete dependence on God, our Father and Creator.  Psalm 34:1 declares, “His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (NKJV). We praise the Lord by acknowledging who He is and what He has done. He is the one and only, infinitely perfect, Creator God.

Illustration by Matt Chinworth | This article was originally titled “One Creator God: Believing Beyond Words” in the February 2025 issue of The War Cry.