Posted:
“Under His Influence – The Design” by Pastor Mark Balmer; 8/1-2/09,
Message #MB383;
Daily Devotional #3 - “What’s Your Name?”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)
This is truly an amazing passage of Scripture.
To know that we were all created in the likeness of God astounds me. Pastor Mark made a comment regarding others trying to explain the Trinity. He gave examples of an egg, and water in its three forms. I have to agree they are poor examples. I sat there for a moment and thought about the passage of Scripture above, and I thought about us as humans. Don’t misunderstand, I still can’t wrap my mind about how complex and magnificent our God is, but a picture came to mind that made me understand a bit more. It has to deal with our likeness to God.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): We were created with 3 parts as well. We have our physical bodies (flesh and blood), our souls (mind, personality, thoughts), and our spirits (life).
We don’t even compare to God; we are created beings, but He created each one of us so uniquely and carefully that none of us is alike.
Scripture tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14) From the beginning we were created to know Him and to have a relationship with Him, but sin separated us from our Father. Jesus came to save us and in his great love and mercy died for us, so we could be reunited with Him. The problem with our nature is that it caused not only physical death, but also spiritual death. It also caused us to rebel, but we were created to be “under His influence.”
As we learned this weekend, God didn’t want robots. He wanted us to choose to love Him. He loves us unconditionally, but unconditional loves comes with a choice.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): Our world is sliding into “humanism.”
It is a belief that man is in charge of his own destiny.
In some ways that is true. We choose to either accept God or not, and that choice will either lead to life or death. But the earth and everything in it belongs to Him. Man cannot take credit for any of it. As we have heard before, there is no self-made man. For “Apart from Him we can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
I have a question to ask you; what is your name?
Are you a Susan or a Michael?
Just as God consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you consist of three parts as well, and you fall under your name! The only difference is that God is three separate persons. That is difficult to comprehend. Are we gods?
Absolutely not, but we were created in His image, to know and ultimately be like Jesus. His Spirit resides in you, and He wants to guide you in your life and fulfill His purpose in you! Amazing, isn’t it?
Think about every newborn baby that is born into the world each day. He knows each one before they are born. I also like to believe that He whispers your name into your parents’ ears. He breathes His life into you, and the Bible says He knows you by name! (John 10:3)
I can’t fathom the love He has for all of us. It astounds me, and I don’t understand it, because we surely don’t deserve it. What a blessing it is to know that He loves us. I don’t know if this was a good illustration or not of trying to understand Him a bit better. I know His ways boggle my mind all the time. His ways are definitely not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts! (Isaiah 55:9) Trust and surrender all of your life to Him! He has amazing plans for you.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Psalm 139, Jeremiah 10:23
HS
