What value am I?: Part 2 - Hope 103.2

What value am I?: Part 2

Morning Devotions is for those curious about the Christian faith and who want to explore Christian issues that relate to their daily life.

By Chris WittsThursday 26 Sep 2013Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes

Transcript:

It seems to me that the only place we can find an accurate answer is in the Word of God. And the first answer that it gives to the question,”What am I?” is this,”You are a special person created in the image of God.” We are special,created in the image of God!

In Genesis 1,God reaches down and takes the dust of the ground. He forms it into a human body,and breathes into its nostrils the breath of life. Adam blinks his eyes,begins to breathe,and becomes a living human being.

God realizes that it is not good for man to be alone,even though surrounded by the beauty of paradise. So God puts Adam to sleep and takes a rib and forms woman. God causes her to live and breathe and become a part of Adam’s life.  For some time,and we have no way of knowing how long,Adam and Eve live in God’s created paradise,walking and talking with Him in the cool of the evening,enjoying the purpose for which they were created,to have fellowship with the Lord God Almighty,to honour Him with their lives.  And we’re also told that they were created in His image. Not that they look like Him,but that they think like Him. They can make decisions like He makes decisions,and they’re responsible for their decisions. They can love the way that God loves. They can hate the things that God hates. They are mirrors of God Himself because God created them in His own image. He created them to be the objects of His love.

 It is important,I think,that we recognize that we were created by God and that we’re important to Him. Therefore we must not think too lowly of ourselves.

In Psalm 8,as David started to praise the majesty of God,he realized this great truth,”God,You’ve made me just a little bit lower than Yourself,and that is pretty high on the ladder of things. You crowned me with glory and with honour. You’ve made me ruler over all of the works of Your hands.”

WE MUST NOT THINK TOO HIGHLY OF OURSELVES

But then the Bible teaches us,”Don’t think too highly of yourself,either,for your sins have scratched & marred the image of God in which you were created.”

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Adam and Eve did the very thing that God told them not to do. They had all these things they could do,and only one thing they shouldn’t do,but they chose to do what God told them not to do. They yielded to Satan’s temptation,and all the world trembles and groans because of it. All of us suffer the consequences. Adam and Eve suddenly realize that they are naked,and are ashamed to be in the presence of God. So they cover themselves up and try to hide from Him. But they find that you can’t hide from God,and soon they are no longer in paradise. They have children,and their children learn to argue and fight. And the first thing you know,Cain kills his brother. Why? Because they are the products of a sinful environment. They learned it from their parents.

We see that in our offspring,in our children and our grandchildren. They learn from us. The very thing we were created to do we don’t do. We were created to walk with God. We were created to talk with Him. We were created to have fellowship with Him. But now we can’t because there is a great chasm between us. And that chasm is created by sin.

So the 2nd thing we need to learn is,”Don’t think too highly of yourself,either.”

You see,there is danger here. If we think too much of ourselves,pretty soon we think,”I am not just created in the image of God. I am God. I will control my own life,and my own destiny.”

On the other hand,we can become so focused on our sins that we are totally defeated,and walk around feeling that we’re worth nothing at all. So there is a happy medium that must come from all this. “I am created in the image of God,but my image is scarred by my sin.”

JESUS MAKES US ABLE ONCE AGAIN TO REFLECT GOD’S IMAGE

in other words,to be the kind of people God intended us to be from the beginning. Here we are,walking around wondering who we are,trying to fill the empty places in our lives,searching,and making foolish mistakes,trying to stuff something into the empty parts of our lives.

But the apostle Paul says,”You don’t have to live that way. You’re created in God’s image and,yes,the image has been marred. But you can once again reflect the glory,the image of God. Through Christ you can be made full and complete.”

In fact,Paul says exactly that in Colossians 2:10 when he writes to the Christians there and tells them,”…you are fully grown because you belong to Christ who is over every power and authority”.
When he said “You are complete in Him,” the Greek word translated “complete” is a nautical,or naval,term. And that statement could just as easily be translated in this way: “You are ready for the voyage of life in Him.”

Isn’t that a wonderful way of saying it? You are ready for the voyage of life in Christ,and whatever you need for the voyage you will find in Him. This is where we say that “Christ is the answer.” So what is your question? What is it you need today?

Are you being enticed by the selfish lifestyles of people who have no interest in God? Then turn to Jesus. Are you being waylaid by the arguments of those seeking to put doubts into your mind? Then turn to Jesus. He is ready to help you!

I began this message by telling about Peter Sellers saying,”I don’t know who I am. The real me doesn’t exist.” And when you heard his words you felt rather sad for him,didn’t you?

Now,who am I? Who are you? Of all the other labels that I may give myself,the one that counts the most is this,”I am a Christian.” I have been born again in Jesus Christ. The Bible says,”anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten,and everything is new”…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

I have a new life in Jesus Christ.. I have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ,and I am His. That is who I am. What about you?