READING: GENESIS 4-6, JOHN 2
God delights in only the things that are godly. Anything less is of no worth to him.
And if we as his creation were to not have sinned, this would never be an issue for us. We would be godly people all the time. It would be easy. It would be natural. It would be our exact nature because that's how we're hardwired. But we sinned, so we have to fight for godliness. We have to muddle through the urges to do wrong and to do ungodly things and decide that we will choose the good things, the right things, even if they're harder to seek, even they're less in number, even if we're alone in the seeking.
The good news? Even though we're often steeped in sin, God still offers godliness (that is, goodness and love and joy and many other things) for us to pursue. He did not simply take away our pursuit after him when we first sinned. He still allows us to pursue lives like we are the "very good" creation of the Creator of the universe. He does not completely forego the design scheme and force us to find a way to be creative, joyful, godly people.
Here are some examples from todays reading of human flesh living with the aspects of God within :
Genesis 5:1-3
Adam creates man after his likeness, just as Adam was created after the likeness of God.
Genesis 4:4
Abel cared for the sheep, a right of humans given by God from the beginning. Abel offers the firstborn of
his flock of sheep (AKA kills an innocent being) to offer to God as a sign of reconciliation. (Reconciliation
had to occur because man left his original design, so therefore he had to show repentance of his straying
and trust in God's design through the giving up of his best work). God later offers his firstborn (Jesus, an
innocent being) as the ultimate sign of reconciliation between God and man.
John 2:6-9
Jesus, in human form, turns water into wine without manipulation, extra ingredients, or funny business.
He demonstrates the ability to turn nothing into something praiseworthy, just as God did in the beginning
of our time.
Here are some examples from today's reading of human flesh going against their original, godly designs:
Genesis 4:5
Cain does not offer a firstborn, an offering of reconciliation. He does give up some of his work, but God
desires the best and most godly. Any offering that does not demonstrate reconciliation and repentance is
of no use to God.
Genesis 4:8
Cain kills his brother, God's creation. Instead of valuing the truth that man is made in God's image. that
man is very good, and that man should multiply, Cain treats human life as something ungodly, something
to be destroyed. Thus his punishment is very fitting. Since he disconnected a human life from the presence
of God, he himself became estranged from the presence of God. Since he selfishly did not offer the best
from his work, his work was taken away from him. His complete lack of trust and dependence in the Lord
turned abruptly; he now begged God for protection and was wholly dependent upon his sovereignty.
Genesis 6
Man decides to live in destructive habits, mixing relationships that were not godly and having no regard for
flourishing marriages that would lead to good and God-seeking lives. Because of these destructive habits,
men themselves are destroyed. God decides to start fresh with the few that remained steadfast to him -
Noah's family.
John 2:12-18
Man decides to forsake the zeal after God, the respect and fear for him because he is Creator, he is holy,
he is over all. Instead, they take the very place where he is meant to meet sinners and bring them into his
holiness and turn it into a place that serves the tempting desires of man, specifically their desire after
human profit. Just as Cain selfishly kept to himself his own work, man made God's house a place to
selfishly serve man instead.
What's that to us? What have we to learn, to absorb, to meditate on? Simply this: if we can be the visual imprints of God on the earth, and if he shows us exactly how to live that imprint out, and there is only good for us in that life, why would we not take the offer? And if we know that straying from the Creator means losing the purity and goodness of the creation and only gives us destruction, why would we take that offer?