Being a Creature (Class Reading)

In Norman Wirzba’s, From Nature to Creation, Wirzba discusses what it means to be a creature for a Christian. A creature is anything which God has created, both animal and human (not necessarily including nature in this sense). It is important to emphasize the dependence of creatures on their Creator. This is the whole point of a creature in the first place. We constantly take from God’s land yet we do not respect it as something which we are dependent upon. When we fail to see our dependencies, we fail to see ourselves as what we truly are: creatures. Wirzba concludes this section by offering his more complete definition of a creature. He says that creatures are, by their nature, incomplete, in-breathed, un-self-sufficient, and unable to stand on their own. All creatures are dependent on God, and through that we see the beauty of being a creature. We live with a knowledge that we have a provider who, in his grace, gave land to an undeserving people because of his infinite love and goodness. Not only that, but he loved creation in this way, that he gave his Son, so that everyone believing in him will have eternal life. This is the true dependence that we have upon God, and our dependence through nature serves as a material allegory for our supreme dependence upon him for the salvation of our souls.