God Thoughts
God Thoughts
Dec 5, 2014
Being a conservative-minded person, with children and grandchildren, I tend to follow the politics in our country fairly closely, and generally am pretty much disheartened at what I see. And having moved halfway across the States, with an uncertain economic future, I’ve made a conscious decision to draw nearer to God, to strengthen my faith. Control freak that I am, I find it’s the only thing that helps me from falling into the fear and anxiety that comes from having no control. Some people find that exhilarating; I’ve never been one of them.
Anyway, I’ve run across some interesting stuff lately. It’s always fascinating to me how God directs your experiences (whether you acknowledge it or not), although I have to admit I’m never on the ball enough to realize it at the time. But I’m reading a book, The Desire of Ages, about the life of Christ, and in my daily chapter the other day I came across the statement that Christ never involved Himself with the political culture of His day.
“The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses – extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.” (Ellen White,The Desire of Ages, page 493)
So the next interesting thing was, we went to my kid’s church one Sunday. I’m not much of a church-goer, but Mike likes to go, with the grandkids. And that Sunday, the sermon was about getting to know your neighbors. Now I’m a pretty un-social person, not because I don’t like people, but I’m awkward. I’m self-conscious. It’s not a thing I do easily. But if I do get to know my neighbors, will it make a difference in the way I think about them, and treat them?
And the thing after that was, I was taking some old papers out of my Bible in preparation for church, and I found something I’d apparently written years ago. I put it on my desk because I was in a hurry. Several days later, in an idle moment, I picked it up and read it. It’s a contemplation regarding the value of man.
According to those people who have no use for God, man is no different than any other animal, and, in their view, a whole lot worse. That’s fine, for them. Yet Job says, “What is man, that Thou hast set Thy heart upon him?” (Job 7:17)
What is man, in God’s eyes? What does man mean to God, that He would give His life to save him? What is man’s status and value?
In Genesis, both man and the animals are said to be“living souls”. According to the Hebrew, this simply means they are “breathing creatures”. What then distinguishes man from any of the other animals?
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . so God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them”. (Genesis 1:26-27) So that becomes the demarcation between man and animal; man was the only thing God created in His own image.
So what?
“Man is the image and glory of God”. (I Corinthians 11:7) Genesis 5:1 “man was made in the likeness of God”. Ephesians 4:24 says man was created after God in righteousness and “holiness of truth” or true holiness. In Ephesians 2:10 “for we are His workmanship created . . . unto good works”. And finally, Isaiah 29:23 says “I have created him for My glory”.
Glory in the Greek means “dignity, honor, worship”. The dictionary meaning is “praise, adoration, great renown, particular distinction, magnificence, splendor, sublime beauty; the splendor of heaven, beatitude; a situation which gives intense satisfaction by the opportunity to indulge one’s special talents or passions; to distinguish oneself by a conspicuously good performance, brave act; to exult, rejoice, to take pride in”. Man is the image and glory of God.
Then the very last thing was the Facebook post from Ben Watson, of the New Orleans Saints, responding to the media frenzy over Ferguson, where he said, “We don’t have a SKIN problem, we have a SIN problem”.
So if, as we’re commonly told, man is no better, we’re actually much worse than any other animal, is it so difficult to understand why we treat each other worse than animals? What if, whether you believe in God or not, you treated everyone around you as if they were a glorious creation? Ya think we might be able to heal these awful wounds?