JANUARY 4

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Ps 8:4-6

“What is man that You are mindful of him,   and the son of man that You visit him?

 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,”

Ps 139:13-18

“For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You.”

Ps 144:3-7

“Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?

Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?

Man is like a breath;

His days are like a passing shadow.

Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down;

Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Flash forth lightning and scatter them;

Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.

Stretch out Your hand from above;

Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,

From the hand of foreigners,”

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This month we’re reading  the new devotional   “Becoming New”,  written by  Warren W. Wiersbe and compiled by his grandson.  Pastor Wiersbe was the President of Moody Bible Institute before the current President, Erwin Lutzer.  

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THE IMAGE OF GOD

Read  Genesis 1:24-31; Psalm 8; Hebrews 2:5-9

Since God is spirit, He doesn’t have a body, which means that being created in “the image of God” has nothing to do with our physical appearance.  When the inspired authors of the Bible wrote about the eyes, ears, hands, or feet of the Lord, they were using human analogies to teach divine truths.  “Made in God’s image” has to do mainly with our spiritual nature and personality.  God gave each of us a mind for thinking, a will for making decisions, and a heart to feel and express emotions.  We also have a spirit within that enables us to fellowship with God and worship Him.

Compared with God, we humans are nothing, and we marvel that He pays any attention to us at all.  “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” Ps 8:4

God gave our first parents authority to “rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26).  God gave Adam and Eve dominion over His creation, but they lost it when they disobeyed His command.  When Jesus, the last Adam came to earth (1 Cor 15:45), He exercised the dominion that the first Adam lost.  He had authority over the birds, the fish, and the animals and they all obeyed Him.

Matthew 26:34;9:75; Luke 5:1-11; Matthew 17:24-27; John 21:1-6; Mark 1:12-13; 11:1-7.

Some people so emphasize the depravity of humankind that they are prone to forget the dignity of our being made in God’s image and able to fellowship with Him.  God supervises our prenatal development and after our birth, He “gives life and breath…and He satisfies every need. He generously provides sunshine and rain,  and considers us far more valuable than the birds and beasts.  He loves us so much that He sent His Son as a human to die for us and save us.  We are born sinners, but we can be born again through faith in Jesus and begin to grow in the image of God.  Yes, we are sinners, but we are created in the image of God.

Ps 139:13-18; Acts 17:25; Ps 146:3-4; Matthew 5:45; Matt. 6:26; 12:11-12;  1 John 4:14.

Because we bear the image of God and have trusted in Jesus for salvation we have great hope and encouragement for the future.  We are “citizens of heaven” and Jesus is preparing a home for us there.  When our Lord returns, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own.”  “but we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is,”

Phil 3:20; Luke 10:20; John 14:1-6; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2.

 Meanwhile, it’s our privilege and responsibility to be transformed here and now and become more like our Lord.   We may also become transformers and let Him use us to introduce people to Jesus.

Public officials are frequently told by their promoters to improve their “image’, but if they do improve, it’s only a temporary change and part of the world’s masquerade.  True and lasting “image improvement” must come from within, through the work of the Holy Spirit.  That’s the only image worth having as He makes us more and more like Jesus.

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