WHAT WERE WE LIKE WHEN WE WERE HOLY?
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26a
Man is made in the image of God. He has full understanding of divine things. There are no flaws or mistakes in his thinking. He has intense desires to walk God’s path without a trace of misgiving. He is able to see God, hear Him speak, and walk with Him in friendship in the cool evening hours.
Heaven and earth are in Adam. He has a body made of earth and a soul made of heaven. He is perfect. Holy like his Creator. He is communicative, creative, trustworthy, and a righteous administrator of all God asks him to govern. He is the perfect husband; Eve the perfect wife.
But Adam and Eve will lose it all. They will rebel and bear the guilt of creating mutiny against the God who gifted them with perfection. Mankind still groans under the burden of fallenness. Creation is in mourning; weeping for what was lost. Some Christians break under the sadness of the times, under the curse of sin that eats away at their psyche like cancer. Can I ask? Do we not know our future?
All is not lost. Jesus came as the last Adam to redeem what was lost in the garden. He died in order to give me the chance to, once again, be holy – as He is holy. I am invited into a re-parenting process by His Father to be a perfect image-bearer once again. Daily, through my willingness to own what is flawed and then repent, God sets me apart from the curse of the fall to be like the last Adam.
And when I die, that full restoration will happen instantaneously. I will be with God, walking in the cool in the evening. I will know what it’s like, firsthand, to have divine thinking. I will be in the prime of life, healthy and energized, to enjoy kingdom life to the fullest.
There are moments that are perfect here on earth, ones I’d like to freeze-frame. When they are over, I can be tempted to live depressed. Those perfect moments will not be interrupted in heaven. We will all be glorified, living in the presence of God where color, creativity, and communion will exceed any perfection we have ever known here. Life’s promise and the kiss of heaven did not end in Eden. It was paused. Then, it was restored again at Calvary.
How much I bear Your image today is my choice. Rule in me today. Conquer sin and death. Live in me as You did in Adam. Amen.
For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org
For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org
Originally published Monday, 13 January 2020.
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