ESOCS Devotional 22 August
TEXT: Genesis 1: 26-31
MEMORY VERSE: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Genesis 1:26
I can imagine what may have transpired at that eventful time in the boardroom in heaven when the decision to crate man was made. Each person in the Holy Trinity gave the fullness of Himself; and these were put together in a cauldron and mixed to become one: inseparably together. We were created as holy beings; and righteous altogether. The likeness of God is purity, sanctification, power, might, goodliness, longsuffering, mercy, truth, honesty, love, kindness, and many other such glorious attributes. All these qualities of God are summed up in holiness and righteousness. These were the qualities we had in us from the beginning of things. Today, we are completely different. What went wrong with us?
We lost it all in Adam (Rom. 5:12); but regained all in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 5:17-19). But the problem is that we have largely refused to throw away the Adam in us and embrace the Christ which should be in us. We are always inclined to live our lives the Adam way. We do not think it is necessarily expedient for us to live our lives the Christ way. We tend to love to remain the natural man rather than becoming the spiritual man (1 Cor. 15:45-49). The essence of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ was to redeem us from sin and turn us again from being carnally mined to becoming spiritually minded. The redemption plan was to return us to the original state in which God created us: in the likeness of the Trinity. The purpose is that we may be like God in all things, and in all ways.
Read yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Let us return to God completely in our hearts. There is no point in trying to live our lives outside His will and plan for us. It doesn’t make sense. The real thing we should do is to cling to God and follow the direction He is leading us. The world has nothing good to offer us. True joy and peace could only be found in God. If we assume the original status He gave us, we would regain everything we lost in Adam. Let us do what Paul did. He threw away the world and all forms of worldliness and embraced Christ completely. He said, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ… one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:7, 8, 13, 14).
Our focus should be in Christ and not in the world or any other thing else; that we may regain our spirituality through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). We cannot please God in the flesh. We can only please Him when He finds Christ in us. The man Christ is the original quality of man that God intended. But we became something else. Let us go back to Him who loves us that we may become people who are truly made in His likeness.
CHALLENGES
- Do you have the fullness of Christ in you? If not, why?
- What qualities do you have in you that could be found in Christ?
PRAYER POINT:
- Pray that your soul may remain steadfast in God.
FURTHER READING: Malachi 1:1-14; 2:1-12; Romans 14:1-11; 14:12-23
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ESOCS Devotional 22nd August
