Friday, June 19, 2015

“In His Image”


    God made the human race "in His own image" for the purpose of relating to us in a manner no other created being could experience (Genesis1:27).  He formed our hearts for loving relationship and fellowship, and when sin entered the picture, made possible the re-making of those who believe into "dear children" in whom His Spirit dwells (Ephesians 5:1; II Corinthians 6:16).  

   "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

   If we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we must believe and affirm this about ourselves, as spiritually constituted in Christ.  We are eternally related to God as His Blood-washed, Grace-renewed, Spirit-birthed sons and daughters.  Upon this basis, we may expect and devote ourselves to genuine fellowship with our Heavenly Father.  Through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, God offers to us a communion with Himself that alone satisfies our hearts.  Moreover, such fellowship greatly pleases His heart because the relationship for which He made us blesses Him no less than it does us.  More, in fact, as our Lord's emotional sensibilities are infinite in their mode and measure.  What He feels, He feels with an intensity beyond our imagining.  And what He feels for us is pleasure in our presence - "the Lord taketh pleasure in His people" - and joy at the sound of our voices - "the prayer of the upright is His delight" (Psalm 49:4; Proverbs 15:8).

    When we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit inhabited us with "the love of God… shed abroad in our hearts" (Romans 5:5).  Such a gift made possible the relationship and fellowship with God for which He originally created humanity.  Much was sacrificed to provide the gift, namely, the smiting and forsaking of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary, by the Father who loved Him (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 27:46).  This is how much our Father desires the companionship and communication of your heart and mine.  The sacrifice of His Son for the securing of many sons and many daughters - "I… will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (II Corinthians 6:18).  Yes, we were made and remade in His image for this, and the present moment provides blessed opportunity to direct our hearts to the fellowship we so need, and which our Lord so desires.

"And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
(John 17:22-26)

Weekly Memory Verse
     Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.  He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.
(John 6:35)    

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