"To understand who God really is, you can begin by looking at yourself, since you are made in God's image."
I quote an author who has sold millions of books and really would like to comment on what he has said. It is true that in the creation account the bible clearly states that God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over all the creatures that move over the earth." Gen 1:26
Mankind's first state was to portray God's image but that all changed the moment Adam and Eve sinned and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are told a few chapters later, "when Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image." Gen 5:3
The world changed and man's state changed from intimate fellowship with God in the garden of Eden to "so then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned." Rom 5:12.
We became a fallen people. So the question I obviously have is, can we still see God by looking at ourselves? The word is very clear and quite derogatory about the state of fallen man. The only way to change our state is by being born again and given a new heart and nature in the process.
"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only EVIL all the time." Gen 6:5
This Old Testament scripture does not sound to me that we can look at ourselves to see God who is Holy, Righteous and Truth. But to be a little more convincing, let us look at how Jesus saw us, even though He didn't come to condemn but to save us.
"If you, then, though you are EVIL, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matt 7:11 and "For from within, out of the human heart, come EVIL ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these EVILS come from within and defile a person." Mark 7: 21-23
I may have laboured the point here, but it is so important to see how far from and unlike God we are and how desperately we needed His solution, salvation through faith in the cross of Christ. None of the character traits mentioned by Jesus in the above scripture can I reconcile with God. It looks pretty grim on behalf of men and women. This is why the gospel of Salvation is such good news. The depravity of mankind is clearly seen in the amazing grace, yet horrific sacrificial death Jesus had to endure on that cross to save us and reconcile us back to the Father. It shows His incredible unconditional love for us that he would come and suffer even when we were at enmity with him. Rom 5:10
God our Father has an eternal good plan for each and every individual on earth but that plan can only unfold when we appropriate it through the cross of Christ. God is eternally good. Salvation was His good plan from before the foundation of the world and it cost Him everything "who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of God the Father." Gal 1:4
We get to have a new identity when appropriated through the cross.
"So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come." 2 Cor 5:17
"For you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light." Eph 5:8
"See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children - and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us." 1 Jn 3:1
Our new identity can only be found IN Christ "who knew no sin but became sin, so that we might have the righteousness of God." 2 Cor 5:21
We appropriate Christ's righteousness, not by any good work, but purely through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. All our identity is found in Him and Him alone. Such is Grace and such is the gift of God to us through Jesus.
I quote an author who has sold millions of books and really would like to comment on what he has said. It is true that in the creation account the bible clearly states that God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over all the creatures that move over the earth." Gen 1:26
Mankind's first state was to portray God's image but that all changed the moment Adam and Eve sinned and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are told a few chapters later, "when Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image." Gen 5:3
The world changed and man's state changed from intimate fellowship with God in the garden of Eden to "so then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned." Rom 5:12.
We became a fallen people. So the question I obviously have is, can we still see God by looking at ourselves? The word is very clear and quite derogatory about the state of fallen man. The only way to change our state is by being born again and given a new heart and nature in the process.
"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only EVIL all the time." Gen 6:5
This Old Testament scripture does not sound to me that we can look at ourselves to see God who is Holy, Righteous and Truth. But to be a little more convincing, let us look at how Jesus saw us, even though He didn't come to condemn but to save us.
"If you, then, though you are EVIL, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matt 7:11 and "For from within, out of the human heart, come EVIL ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these EVILS come from within and defile a person." Mark 7: 21-23
I may have laboured the point here, but it is so important to see how far from and unlike God we are and how desperately we needed His solution, salvation through faith in the cross of Christ. None of the character traits mentioned by Jesus in the above scripture can I reconcile with God. It looks pretty grim on behalf of men and women. This is why the gospel of Salvation is such good news. The depravity of mankind is clearly seen in the amazing grace, yet horrific sacrificial death Jesus had to endure on that cross to save us and reconcile us back to the Father. It shows His incredible unconditional love for us that he would come and suffer even when we were at enmity with him. Rom 5:10
God our Father has an eternal good plan for each and every individual on earth but that plan can only unfold when we appropriate it through the cross of Christ. God is eternally good. Salvation was His good plan from before the foundation of the world and it cost Him everything "who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of God the Father." Gal 1:4
We get to have a new identity when appropriated through the cross.
"So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come." 2 Cor 5:17
"For you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light." Eph 5:8
"See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children - and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us." 1 Jn 3:1
Our new identity can only be found IN Christ "who knew no sin but became sin, so that we might have the righteousness of God." 2 Cor 5:21
We appropriate Christ's righteousness, not by any good work, but purely through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. All our identity is found in Him and Him alone. Such is Grace and such is the gift of God to us through Jesus.
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