Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image - part 2.”
When God created Adam and breathed His breath into him, it was not just life that came to be. After all, animals and trees and fish and birds also have life. It was the breathing of His breath into man and woman. He was imparting to them something even more precious than life itself – an eternal soul which set man apart from the rest of creation. Men and women were designed for eternity.
The soul is that invisible part of us, given by God and that transcends our physical life and lives on into and for eternity. Anyone who has been with a loved one who passed away knows that at the moment of death, it is not just the absence of life that takes place but the very person who was there is no longer there. They have departed and left an empty shell of a body. The essence of the individual, their God-given soul, has left their body. This is the soul that every human being possesses unlike any other part of creation.
Why is human life sacred? Because God imbued it with an eternal soul! This is part of what it means to be made in His image. This is why God was so angry when Cain killed Abel. In the world’s first homicide he had taken the life of a living person with an eternal soul who was made in God’s image. That eternal soul is a reflection of God’s eternal being and when we treat it without the greatest dignity we demean God Himself. How we treat other human beings matters because they are made in His image.
It was the early Christians who fought against the infanticide of unwanted infants in the Roman Empire based on their understanding of the sacredness of life. It was Christians who cared for those dying of the plague throughout history, at the risk of their own lives, because they understood the sacredness of life. This is why Christians established orphanages, hospitals, homes for the elderly, and cared for the disabled. Human life is sacred! It possesses an eternal God given soul. It is to be honored, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect. Anything that detracts from the dignity of human life is to be resisted for it has within it His image.
There are many who see men and women as simply more sophisticated members of the animal kingdom, a natural view if one accepts a Darwinian view of the world. But Genesis 1 and 2 are clear that men and women are qualitatively different from the rest of creation in that they are made image bearers of Him. We possess eternal souls.
God created men and women specifically to have a relationship with him as their creator. In fact, it says that in the cool of the evening God would physically stroll in the garden with Adam and Eve. He took great pleasure in their company. A common view of God for many is that we should be afraid of Him. Yet, the creation account indicates that God delights in the fellowship of His created.
Here is the mystery of God’s heart: That he would want to create us in order to have fellowship with us - to love us and be loved by us. He delights in our worship of Him and in showing His love to us. Of the created order, only mankind has this great privilege!
We often think that we have an obligation to spend time with God: that somehow by doing so we gain God’s favor. Here is the truth: God delights and finds great joy in our presence with Him. It is hard to understand but He, complete as He is in Himself, loves to be in our presence. We were designed for Him! It is integral to being made in His image.
This is why the longings of our hearts are never completely satisfied by anything else – or anyone else. As image bearers we are never complete until we are connected in heart relationship with the One who created us and the closer that relationship the more complete we become. Only God can ultimately fill our souls with meaning. We try to fill it with all kinds of activities, pleasure, and relationships but in the end it is God who satisfies because He designed us for Himself.
Father, I am overwhelmed that you made me for you. Fill me with you so that I become the version of me that you made me for. Amen.