About Man & God
Let me tell you something about man and God…
Scripture says we are fearfully and wonderfully created by God in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:14), that we are a marvelous work of God, entirely dependent upon Him (Psalm 22:9-10, 71:5-6), that we are His imagebearers (Genesis 1:26, 3:22). We’re told sin is contrary to who we are and seeks to rule over us, but we must master it (Genesis 4:6-7); that we depart our initial state of innocence and go astray into sin and trespasses (Psalm 58:3, Proverbs 14:22, Hebrews 5:2), developing a nature in bondage to sin and rightly deserving judgment (Ephesians 2:1-3).
That by our young adult years the imagination of our hearts has become set on wickedness (Genesis 8:21) and yet even in such a state as this we can come to our senses and return to the Father who draws all men to Himself (Luke 15, John 12:32, 2 Peter 3:8-10), promising to freely and abundantly pardon us, lavishing His restorative love upon us and declaring us innocent once more (Ezekiel 18, Isaiah 55:7, 1 John 1:9).
We’re told that in order to redeem man and conquer the hold of the grave that Jesus came in our flesh and blood, like us in every respect (Hebrews 2:14-18), that in the greatest example of selfless love in the history of the universe He took our suffering and our death upon Himself (John 15:13, Acts 2:24) and though He was tempted in every way as we are and though He suffered greatly, He did not stumble, He did not waiver… He did not sin (1 Peter 2:22, Romans 8:3).
We don’t have a cold and uncaring God who can’t sympathize with our suffering. We have a God who picked up His own cross and showed us just how much He understands and how far He is willing to go to save us (Hebrews 4:15).
You see man was created in the image of God and would walk with Him in paradise in the cool of the day (Genesis 1-3:8) and it’s in the arms of your Heavenly Father where you will find true freedom, love, fulfillment, joy… realizing the purpose for which you were created (Ephesians 1:11-12).
God is the source of Life and all good things (John 14:6), apart from Him there is only the absence of such things… pain and death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). You may be like Adam and Eve and hiding in the bushes, afraid of what He will think when He sees the mess you’ve made, but when the Father sees you returning He will rush out to greet you, throw His arms around you, kiss your dirty face, cover you in His best robe, place a ring on your finger, celebrate and declare “My child who was dead is alive again!” (Luke 15:11-32)
