ESOCS Devotional 4 June 2023
MEMORY VERSE: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them”. Genesis 1:7
TEXT: GEN. 1:26-31
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
The plural pronoun “our” which God applied to himself remained a mystery to man until Christ came and dissolved that mystery. Passages like Jn. 1:1, 1 Cor. 13:4, and 1 Jn. 5:7-8 plainly informs us that God consists of three persons in one. Namely; God the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Man was created in the image of the Triune God, not just in the image of the Father alone, or Son alone or Holy Spirit alone. The implication is that we are to reflect that image. As we celebrate the Trinity Sunday, let us examine some of what we are made to be as carriers of the image of God.
- As the image of God, we are to reflect God’s nature and character to the rest of creation. Top on that nature is Holiness, a word that seeks to express the absolute moral purity of God and the absolute moral distance between God and man. It speaks of separation from all that is unholy and impure. “And ye shall be holy unto me for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye shall be mine” (Lev. 20:26). See also 1 Peter 1:15-16.
- Righteousness: Almost equivalent to holiness, consist of holy principles, holy affections, and conforms to the law and commandments of God. Man was at creation made upright (Eccl. 7:29) until the fall. The minimum standard of righteousness which the Lord Jesus commanded us is that which must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.
- Showing mercy: God is all merciful, and all forgiving. To replicate the image of God demands that we be merciful and ready to forgive (Mathew 5:7).
- Self-giving: God’s self-giving nature fully expressed in the gift of his only begotten son, for our redemption places the responsibility on us to live a life of self- giving to the service of God and the service of humanity.
- Reflect on the Trinity; reflect on Christ who is the express image of God (Heb. 1:3) in whom exists all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Resolve to be holy, righteous, merciful, self-giving and creative.
- Lord, I pray thee; give me knowledge to attain perfection, and to attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
FURTHER READING: Genesis 33:6; 1 John 5:7-8; 1:1-3
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ESOCS Devotional 4 June 2023
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