Image of God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

IMAGE OF GOD

Gen 1:24-31

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

NIV

God was really busy on the sixth day in compassion with the first five days. Day one, he created light, day two, the expanse, day three, land and all vegetation, day four, the universe, day five, all that swim in the sea and fly in the air. But now it is day six, and all kinds of animals according to their kind. All the livestock that will serve his crowning creation, man, and all the wild beasts, and how thankful we are for all of them. But now it was time for God to make the one living being who would be an image of himself. How we mirror the image of God, or are an image of God, is beyond our full comprehension. When we consider the qualities or attributes of God, how is it possible that we could be his image? Certainly, we are nothing like God in the sense of his character, of who he is. Yet, what does it mean to be made in his image? He used two words to describe what we are. First, the Hebrew word translated as image means "to shade," a phantom, i.e., an illusion, a resemblance, and hence a representative figure. Second, the word translated as "likeness" carries the meanings of "model," "shape," "like," and "resemblance." Then we have to come to grips with how his grace influences our hearts and how we reflect him in our lives. He formed us to be like him, in form and likeness of being. Adam was formed to be an eternal being like God. However, sin brought man to the same level as all the rest of creation that has the breath of life in it. However, God did not leave his man alone, for he sent his Son to buy us back, redeem us, and make us into the original form, an eternal being. This is only the beginning of our pondering on our being made in the image of God. We'll need another day or so on this truth. But for now, we wonder how well we are being as a representation of God. When we think of His image, how good are we at being an image of God?

Blessed By God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BLESSED BY GOD

Gen 1:20-23

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.

NIV

Perhaps we should consider for a moment that all sea life, every living creature that lives in the water, which we could not possibly even attempt to determine the number or the kinds, exists because of God. We think the whole point of those who believe in a theory of evolution is to discredit creation, in fact, to disregard creation as having any validity at all, which then gives them a self-generated belief that there is no God, or that if there is, he had no hand in the beginning of life in some premortal substance. However, we merely need to observe the great variety of life in the seas and of the birds that take flight in the air to know that only God could have spoken them into being. Then when we ponder on all of the sea creatures and birds and that God blessed them and told them, spoke to them to be fruitful and increase in number, for them to do so would mean they understood him. Because of his greatness and authority over all that he created, he gave them the ability to hear and understand him. That boggles our mind and gives us a different view of all life on this earth. If all the living things in the water and all the birds of the air are aware of their creator, how much more should we be, for we are made in God's image, and are of only one variety, with some slight differences in our physical appearance. Of course, all the birds of the air have similarities; sea life has great differences: some are mammals, others fish, and still others are neither, but all of them exist from the voice of God. That gives way to our lives, which we will explore in much detail on the sixth day, but in the meantime, we should know that the purpose of all the life in the sea and the birds in the air is all for the pleasure of God, which then means so are we. We have life for the pleasure of God. If God blessed all the life in the sea, and all the birds of the air, how much more does he bless us? All life is blessed by God. 

His Pleasure

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

HIS PLEASURE

Gen 1:14-19

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the Earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.

NIV

The Sun, the Moon, and the whole universe came into being on the fourth day of creation just because God spoke. We know the ancients, like Moses, did not understand the universe as mankind does today. The Ancients could have thought the Sun traveled across Earth's sky, then returned at night, while the moon traveled across to return the next day, and that this process repeated. They did not understand the total complexity of the Earth being set at a precise distance and in an orbit around the Sun, which God spoke into existence, to give both light and heat to the surface of the Earth. Everything about our solar system is in perfect order; nothing is out of place. The Earth spins perfectly at just the right angle to give everything on it just the right amount of light, warmth, and seasonality for a precise reason.  God left nothing out, or by chance, for he created a perfect environment for man, who would be his crowning glory of creation.  Although we are new earthers, believing God created all that is created in six days, and that, from the genealogy of man, it is evident the Earth is somewhere between six and seven thousand years old, no matter what some might believe that it is millions of years old. Still, for the Sun to shine, to burn gases, or flares of gas for thousands of years, never diminishing or expanding, but remaining constant, can only be due to the absolute authority of God. This holds true in his creation of the moon at its perfect distance from the Earth to affect the tides of the waters, while reflecting the light of the Sun at night, as it rotates around the Earth. This could not have happened by chance, but only by the divine will of God. Everything he did, even though he created this perfect environment for us, was for his own pleasure. All the Earth, the Sun, Moon, the stars, the whole expanse of the universe is for his pleasure. Which brings us to ourselves. Although we are still ahead in the process of creation, we are here for his pleasure. All of creation is for the pleasure of God; he would not need or do anything, for he is enough because he is God. Creation was for his pleasure. 

Air, Land, and Sea

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

AIR, LAND, AND SEA

Gen 1:9-13

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.

NIV

Why did God do two parts of his creation on the third day? Because he is God, he can do whatever he wants, however he wants, whenever he wants. However, what is not exactly revealed to us is how, within all the water below the expanse, dry land appeared, other than because God said that dry land should appear. From what we think we know about the makeup of the dry land, or the earth as we know it, there is some type of core of some material that may be different than the dry land we walk on, although no one has ever dug that deep to know for sure. There is a lot of speculation presented as fact, but only God knows how he gathered all the water into one place and spoke the dry land into existence. He also spoke all the vegetation to appear, to grow from the earth, or the dry land, which he left the rest of it water, and he called the sea. Just pondering on the sea, it was once part of the surface of the deep over which the Spirit of God hovered.  When we touch the sea, we are touching where the Spirit hovered. When we walk the land, we are walking on that which God spoke into being, and when we eat a fruit or vegetable, or some other product of vegetation, we are enjoying what God spoke into existence. In fact, most of us are living within a structure that has been taken from the seed-bearing plants, the wood of trees. Everything we have is a result of God's spoken word. Has man developed new things? That idea makes it sound as if mankind can create, but we can only discover that which God has already done. We can explore all that he has created to a point, for we are still limited to a finite portion of his creation. We think we know how our bodies are made; however, we cannot explain how we are alive or what makes us know who we are. So when we think we can explain the makeup of the earth, the dry land, the sea, we are still just men, and can only take the word of God as the absolute truth. He caused it to happen the way he decided and how he decided. It is just that simple. Mankind wants to explain it in its terms and on its timetable, but it is all about God's terms and His timetable. The land, the sea, and the plants were all created on the third day. 

The Expanse

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE EXPANSE

Gen 1:6-8

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.

NIV

Day two is very interesting, presenting a truth that might be larger than we see at first glance. What we know is that the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the deep. Now God spoke to the waters, which we do not know how large or deep the water is, yet he divided the water with a space, an expanse, which he made. We don't think much about the fact that God created an expanse. Before he made the expense, there was none, but only the surface of the deep. We know that He called the expanse sky, which we look up into every day of our lives. We see the sky, its clouds floating by, and stare out into the expanse God made to divide the waters. If then the water is divided, there is water under the expanse and water above the expanse. We know from Day three that he let the waters below the expanse gather in one place, and he made the dry land appear. He was forming the earth to be the perfect environment for the man he formed in their image. What we think little about, and maybe that is because we are so engrossed in our own environment, is how far the expanse is, and that there is water above it. In our modern age of technology, we have people living in the expanse, in close proximity to the earth, and with our great telescopes, we have searched farther into the expanse, but have never come close to reaching its fullness or its end, where there is water. What this tells us about God is that he is bigger than we can even imagine, yet he is extremely personal with us. We cannot even fathom the size of God who lives somewhere above the expanse, yet has this incredible personal touch upon our lives. Then we must consider that he is omnipresent, meaning he is above the expanse and right here with us. How magnificent is God, that he has such a close relationship with us, and can hear us when we talk to him, even in our small voice. How is it that God, who spoke the expanse into being, and by his word, the waters were divided into that which was below and that which was above it, still draws us close to himself? His greatness, his splendor, and his majesty, yet his grace, love, and compassion for us, boggle our minds. We can hardly come close to comprehending how great God is that all he needs to do is speak, and the whole of everything responds, yet he has given us the ability to refuse to respond. How can that be, since our very existence is a result of his work? That is why there is such a great divide among mankind, such a great expanse between those who believe and those who do not. 

The Light

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE LIGHT

Gen 1:1-5

1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

NIV

As we begin, when life as we know it began with God creating everything that is needed to sustain the life of the man he would form, there are some very interesting truths we should explore again. This is a story we are so familiar with, yet, with the help of the Spirit's inspiration, we can see something new. Because we are told the earth was formless and empty, we understand that the earth simply did not exist yet. The one truth we have some difficulty with is that darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Because we know that God is light, and that from the revelation he gave to John, God is the complete source of light in the new city of Jerusalem that sits on, or entirely fills, the mountain of God. What existed before anything God created all that is, the creator was the depth of the waters, where there was no light. Because of the presence of God, all three of the persons of God, wherever God was, there must have been light, for God is light, and there is no darkness in him. Yet, there was darkness over the surface of the deep where the Spirit of God hovered. Then God spoke; he did not have to wave his hand or do something magical; he just spoke. "Let there be light," and that is what happened; light appeared. How, exactly, did he separate the light from the darkness we cannot fully grasp; however, there is, in some sense, how we can understand the difference between the light and the darkness. Once we lived in the darkness, because we lived apart from God. Although we are always in the presence of God, for he is omnipresent, we refused to acknowledge him and lived according to our own hearts, which were filled with darkness. In some sense, in that darkness, we hovered over the depths of death. However, on the first day of our new lives, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and he saw that his light within us was good. He separated the light in us from the darkness that once was. That was the beginning of a new life, a reborn life, being separated from the darkness of night to live in the light of day. Of course, as his light shines upon and within us, it exposes anything that still might linger in the depths of our hearts that should be excommunicated and sent packing. That may not happen on day one, or the first day, but when the light is within, there should be no darkness. Thank you, Lord, for the light.  

Open or Closed

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

OPEN OR CLOSED

Acts 28:23-31

23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

26 "'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." 27 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'  

28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"   30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

We have arrived at the conclusion of the Acts of the Apostles with Paul in Rome and having another conversation with the Jewish leaders, in fact, with more than the leaders, as we are told a larger number of people came to hear Paul’s views about the kingdom of God. He used their own knowledge of the Law of Moses and the Prophets to show them that Jesus was the Messiah. He tried to convince them, with some understanding of the truth and believing, while others just could not open their hearts and minds to see Jesus. This is always the challenge people face when they come face-to-face with the truth. People hear but never understand. They see but do not perceive, and their hearts are calloused, hardly hearing, with closed eyes, and not seeing the truth about Jesus. Because of the great mercy of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit who broke into our lives, softening the callous on our hearts, opening our ears and eyes so we could understand the gospel message, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, becoming born from above, a new person, a child of God. How can we not live with thanksgiving and a heart filled with gratitude toward God? Because we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and we understand with our hearts, we have been healed. We have been healed from eternal death and have been given eternal life. When Paul explained everything, with his concluding remarks, the people could not agree; some believed, some did not. Is that the way of the church today? Is that the way of our hearts? Do we all agree on the one basic truth about Jesus? Is it possible that, in some sense, we have closed our hearts, ears, and eyes so that we only hear, see, and understand what we want to, keeping the rest of the truth closed off from us? If we think that might be possible, the question is why. Are we only willing to accept what makes us feel comfortable, sealing off that which would require us to change? Let us face life in Christ with open eyes, ears, and hearts, then we truly will be healed. Are we living open or closed?