We were created to recognize and take part in God himself, the most valuable (most High) of all, and made to be infinitely valued/loved by him. Our worth and value are precisely because we have the capacity to show forth, bring attention to, and awareness of the greatest and most worthy of all beings, only second to Christ himself, our "big" brother. Only we can also receive God's love; appreciate and enjoy his glory in a manner equivalent to God's (Jesus) receiving and enjoying it.
Incredible as all this is, we reject this because we prefer to be our own god. We value our independence more than our true joy and highest good i.e. being in union with the Highest of all.
Being like God, in his image, has nothing to do with what we do for God or provide him (do some good work/performance such as covering our shame with fig leaves) but is based solely on who God has made us to be (LIKE God himself!); on what he has given us. And that is our problem. We want our identity based on what we do, not who we actually are - who He has made us to be.
Being like God, in his image, has nothing to do with what we do for God or provide him (do some good work/performance such as covering our shame with fig leaves) but is based solely on who God has made us to be (LIKE God himself!); on what he has given us. And that is our problem. We want our identity based on what we do, not who we actually are - who He has made us to be.
Because we are disconnected from God, the ground and source of our being and value, we live with a subtle, buried and deep sense of guilt, shame, worthlessness, and inadequacy. As a result, we are always seeking to do things to prove we are important and valuable, not worthless. We are constantly attempting to prove our worth by our actions.
Our having a hard time accepting that we are worth God's love - because of who He created us to be as creatures in his image - is actually a subtle form of rebellious unbelief. God tells us we are designed by him, for life in him. Why? In order to enjoy him as much as possible, we must be like him as much as possible without actually being him. And since this is so, we can not function properly without a relationship (being united) with our Creator.
Yet we refuse to recognize this and reject a new status (offered to us by God through Christ, not earned by us) and attempt to be our own god; to hang on to the lie that we can operate without him and even do something to prove our worth by our efforts to earn God's love. This simply is contrary to who God designed us to be i.e. who we actually are and who he tells us we are. And this is the very attitude (distrust/unbelief) that keeps us from reconnecting with God through the provision he has made for us in Christ.
For a discussion of our worth in relation to sin click here
For a discussion on the tension between being and doing click here
Our having a hard time accepting that we are worth God's love - because of who He created us to be as creatures in his image - is actually a subtle form of rebellious unbelief. God tells us we are designed by him, for life in him. Why? In order to enjoy him as much as possible, we must be like him as much as possible without actually being him. And since this is so, we can not function properly without a relationship (being united) with our Creator.
Yet we refuse to recognize this and reject a new status (offered to us by God through Christ, not earned by us) and attempt to be our own god; to hang on to the lie that we can operate without him and even do something to prove our worth by our efforts to earn God's love. This simply is contrary to who God designed us to be i.e. who we actually are and who he tells us we are. And this is the very attitude (distrust/unbelief) that keeps us from reconnecting with God through the provision he has made for us in Christ.
For a discussion of our worth in relation to sin click here
For a discussion on the tension between being and doing click here
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Grace to you
Jim Deal