The fourth smart way to think about God is God Is the Creator of Creators. So God, being creative as He is, kept His hands busy until one day, a trifling million years ago, a new species appeared. It didn’t look all too different. I was a little less hairy and seemed a little more   comfortable standing on its hind legs. But it still had a backbone, a protruding jaw, a bulging forehead and opposable thumbs. Like a chimpanzee or a gorilla. Yet this ape was different. Its brain was larger and its frontal lobes were more pronounced and, most importantly, it had a more advanced consciousness. It was not just conscious but also self-conscious – aware of itself. Indeed, this consciousness was so highly evolved it could be said to resemble God’s. To be created in His image.

Like God, man is intelligent. He can understand himself and the things around him. His intelligence allows him to extend dominion over the whole planet and even into the solar system. It allows him to influence life and even tinker with the genetic code.

Like God, man is also creative. He invents and builds. He makes objects in his own image. He, like God, is a creator. And, like the Creator Himself, man possesses a quality that is truly godlike. The true source of his dignity and his   suffering is his free will.

He is relatively free to make choices and he can determine what he wants to do, or not to do. He is not totally a slave to his animal instincts. He doesn’t live just for food or shelter and can strive for something far less concrete. He can, like God, even live for higher truths, nobler ideals and, even if they’re unattainable, he will work relentlessly toward them. He will strive to “reach that unreachable star”.

He is, however, also free to ignore lofty ideals. He can devote his life to fattening his wallet and truly create his own hell.

Yet all too often man feels the strain of this burden of free will. He can feel alienated from himself and others. He feels a separation between the ideals he can conceive and the reality he lives. In this distance from himself, man can feel even further separated from the ultimate ideal: the Goodness of God.

We all must admit to this inner sense or feeling of separation and alienation. There’s a gulf between our thoughts and our actions – between God and us.  And whatever you call it, it exists. Its real.

So it, too, must be part of creation. Does God have something in mind? Either He has, or He’s not only created a creator, but a lot of problems too. He’s actually created a creator who can freely come to know, love and serve Him and truly be His child.