In the beginning God made man in His
own image and had designed a perfect plan for man.
In the garden of eden man walked in
perfect harmony with creation and had a peaceful one on one relationship with God.
Man knew only peace and love, there was no hatred or pain or conflict until
man fell by deception into disobedience and sin entered his being.
Genesis 1:26-27 "Then God said let us make man in our own image according to our likeness,
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all of the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them."
However, now we do not see this harmony and peaceful existence on planet earth, the perfect plan for
man is marred by sin.
As a result of this tragedy in the garden of eden,
mankind was placed into a state of sin, passed on by the bloodline of Adam and Eve.
What we see now in society and everywhere on this planet is the evidence of sin and lawlessness in man
and the despair that this brings, upon all who are imprisoned by it's power and it's inescapable behavior patterns.
Psalms 14:2-3 "The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt, there is none who does good, no not one."
You may take offense at this and say not me,
I am not rotten like the rest of them, or I feel that there are some of us who are OK.
You may believe that you are the exception to this rule.
I must announce this truth that no one does good, this insidious sin element is at play in all of us.
If we were to line ourselves up with the perfection of God and His Holy Presence,
I know that we would be blown away by the magnitude and awesome righteousness of His Holy Person.
We fall short somewhere in some way.
There is no comparison between our own righteousness and God's absolute, unchangeable, perfection righteousness.
Do you see the position we are in when we are separated from God and do not have His ways working in us.
When Adam fell to disobedience, what happened was an indescribable tragic happening deep inside Adam and Eve's spirit beings.
There came a shift away from God from the terrible condition of sin working in the very core of their nature,
which now pervades all of mankind by the bloodline.
It is plain to see even by blind Freddy, that this world has a problem and that man is the originator of the crimes committed in it.
With destruction, hatred, murders and sick crimes on humanity, wars and incurable diseases and now we have the events of
September the 11th resounding throughout this earth. Bombings and mayhem shake this earth and rattle the very foundations of
peace and goodwill, it is plain to see we need an answer, we need a Saviour.
Thank God that the story does not end here, what a relief you say and I say too.
God is a God that would not want anyone to perish or to be eternally separated from Him, He is our creator and His plan is that we would all choose to be in fellowship with Him.
I want you to know that
Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it, so hold on! There is Good News.
Please read on and find out more about the love and mercy of the God who created us.
If we understand what sin is and what it means, we find that the definition of sin is in fact separation from God.
The very thing that separates us is the nature
of sin which is opposed to God and His ways of perfection
in love and peace and a righteousness living.
Now God has a perfect plan for fallen
man to get him and her back together with Him in fellowship and not be separated any longer by the sin element.
1 Cor 15:45-49 "And so it is written the first man Adam became a living being,
The last Adam became a life giving spirit.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
The first man was of the earth, made of dust, the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As was the man of the dust, so also are those who are made of dust,
and as is the heavenly Man, so are also those who are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the man of the dust,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man."
Who's image would you rather be in? There is a lot of talk about self image and preserving who you are. This is well and good for a bit of self esteem to have some confidence.
Do you follow and take on somebodies image? A cult figure? A hero? Somebody famous? An actor or pop star?
Or do you take on your own image?
Well I know who I'd rather have shaping my thinking and behaviour, not another person, even a holy person.
I cannot entrust myself to another man who is fallible in some way, or take on a set of religious disciplines to set my image, no I want to take on the image of the man from above.
The man who was God with us, God in human form, who came from heaven and returned to heaven, but not before going to the cross and forever more dealing with sin in mankind which has made a way for us to be forever changed into the image of Him, Jesus.
That is going to do wonders for anyones self esteem, when you follow after the image of perfection.
It is God's intention through Jesus the man from heaven that we who were of the image of the first man Adam in sin,
now take on the image of Him from heaven.
2 Corinthians5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
God, by sending Jesus to take all of the
punishment due to us by suffering the ultimate and taking all of the sinful image of mankind upon Himself in the extreme sacrifice on the cross has dealt with the punishment of death and separation from God because of sin.
Then Jesus was raised again in the life of God to give us His image, so we can enter into a new relationship with God forever.
What about the life we have in this
world now, before the next life of eternity and hope to come? How do now we manage since we are not perfected yet?
Colossians 3:1 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God."
Colossians 3:5(a) "Put to death your members which are on earth"
Colossians 3:10(part) "Put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him"
Put to death the earthly nature, be renewed in His image.
Now it is fair to say when God says we need to do something He makes a way for us to do it.
God just doesn't expect us suddenly when we are sinners and in the continual habit patterns of wrong doing to just quit and be perfect.
No, He has made a way for us to be changed and become new in the image of Him from heaven.
Now we who are earthly man can now be
transformed to the image of the Heavenly Man when we are born again by the Lord of all, Jesus, and then live forever with Him in Heaven in the glory to come.
For now we have to apply what we have
received in God's perfect plan at work in us when we become born again and we are created in His image to be like Him.
Putting to death our old ways of sinfulness is an act of faith on our part and a willing sacrifice to apply what we have received in Him.
After the life we have in this world we will be in the fullness, when we reach perfection in the life to come.
However, now we can actually see the effects of God's image at work in us, as we by faith believe what God says and are changed bit by bit into His image,
because of the new life at work in us when we became born again.
When we come to God and submit ourselves to His image birthed in us, we can know a change in this life, to be like Him and do good like He does, because we are now born again into His image.
Let us examine the meaning of this word
image. 1 Cor 15:49 (amplified) image of the man of heaven.
Image taken from the Strongs Concordance.
Greek - "eikon" - likeness,
statue, profile, representation, resemblance, image.
Hebrew - "tselem" - to shade,
a phantom, illusion, resemblance,
representative figure(idol), image.
We see a description of what it is like
to be in His image, we represent Him, we are like Him, we bear His
resemblance.
What is Jesus like?
He went around doing good setting those
who were oppressed free and healing those who were sick.
Are we clones of Jesus?
No we are individually made and have our own uniqueness, we must understand what it is to represent someone or to have their likeness, it means that we take on the same characteristics and we behave like those who we represent.
This is what it means and in the opposite, when we were still separate from Him before being born again, we represented someone else and behaved like sinful man.
We were like that because we were born into it through Adam's blood line and we are now growing out of it by faith into His image of perfection.
2 Corinthians 4:7 "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
The Apostle Paul describes what we are as treasures of God in earthen vessels, like the awesome image of the man from heaven at work in us who were originally from the earth or the man of dust.
Now we may suffer in this transition of change on this earth as there are opposing forces against what we represent. We have the limitations of this earthen vessel that we still possess in our bodies that are not perfected.
We now have the life of Jesus revealed in us even though we are putting to death the old way of the separation from God of a life of continual unrepentant sin.
2 Corinthians 4 :16,17 "We do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
Be encouraged reader, we have much to look forward to, more than we can imagine or dream.
Do not lose heart for there is an life of glory which will be revealed in us and this will last forever, the afflictions of this world will not compare with the splendor and the bliss of forever knowing our God and being like Him forever.
We can now live in His image.
If you have not received God's unsurpassed love and have not yet become reconciled to Him, I invite you to be changed forever and be born again.
Click here to find out more on born again - the first step of entry into God. Take action now and believe in your God who wants you to know Him and be with Him forever.
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