(MULTILINE REVEAL BIG)God ordained everything that is recorded and preserved in Scripture be directly applied to our identity and lifestyle as we live life in a world filled with sin and temptation.
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
We are the Master’s own self-portrait, designed to uniquely reflect Who God Is and What He Is like but the presence of sin distorts the image of God in all humanity
Christ perfectly reflects His Father’s glory
Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
God established His kingdom, raised up rulers from the dust, and called them to reflect His image to all the world
Genesis 2:1-2 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested . . . .”
The primary purpose of the creation account is not WHAT was created but WHO created it
“Human beings are to exercise sovereignty within God’s sovereignty, so that all earthly creatures may be related to God through them and thus join the creation’s symphony of praise to the Creator.” Bernard Anderson
Paul says that we are to put off our old corrupt self and live as our new self that is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4:24)
“The nature of holiness which the true Christian seeks to possess is no other than the restoration of the image of God to his or her own soul.” William Wilberforce
Speaking to His disciples, our Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)
The Key to the Christian Life is Christ’s Life In the Christian!
Our life with God is a call to perfection and holiness, to fullness of life in Christ: to putting our hands on the plough and never looking back, enduring to the end, to running through the tape in the race of life and striving to follow the narrow way
Like Paul we can be confident that, “God, who began the good work in us, will continue His work until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Phil 1:6)
In his book A Long Obedience In the Same Direction Eugene Peterson lamenting the lack of spiritual maturity amongst Christians writes, “Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.”
Our life with God comes from two sources at once, who we are created to be and who we are called to be.
Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do and find that for which I can live and die.”
Our problem is we have too much to live with and too little to live for.
The seeking we do is not in our human ascent to God, but God’s descent to us. We think we are looking for something; but we soon realize we have been found by Someone and that Someone is Christ Jesus!
When we answer Jesus’ call to do heaven’s business of redeeming the Father’s world, our ultimate reward will be the praise of God Himself, when He says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” (Mt 25:21)