Made in His Image (Monday) – Genesis 1:26-31
Most of us are taught as young Christians that our spiritual beginning was the fall of man; when Adam and Eve disobeyed God; selling out the human race to a sinful nature that is instinctively hostile toward God. Even King David reminds us that we were conceived in iniquity in our mother’s wombs. How could a Christian argue with anything so obviously true. Human history is the testimony of this curse, yet I read…
“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
I am also thinking of a related comment by Paul..
…..He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. (Ephesians 1:4-5)
What God saw that He declared good had been conceived in Him before space and before time. Of course this is difficult to convey with flannel graph but it is a fact; our origins precede the Fall. What God had made was very good and because that was His original intention, it shall all turn out very good with us.
The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit….. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Cor 15:45,49)
Someone ask me yesterday, “What has God been showing you?” Since my last post of 2013 and the first one of 2014 are both on the same theme, I believe He is saying something to this effect…..
“My original intentions are going to prevail because your origins are patterned after My nature which is very good. The deepest truth about my children is not that they are monsters of iniquity. In Christ I have given you abundant life. I, the Life-giving Spirit, have given you new hearts and a new covenant. I Am Myself, your Life.
In spite of the evening news or our track records, which we too often believe confirms our hopeless bondage to the flesh, great truths exist that we have not yet walked in that will prevail, causing us to be the light of the world, exhibiting the glory of God as Christ in us, the hope of glory further expresses Himself to this world He has not abandoned.
Father, help us to more deeply discover the inexhaustable nature of your Life in us. Holy Spirit, teach us to live at rest and peace in the great expanse of Your kingdom where there are no ends to Your goodness and love. Amen.