If you haven’t read the earlier post, “Life always starts with Seed”, please do.  In it, I introduce the fact that God created us as His seed to live in His image and gives His Word and Spirit as seed for our spiritual growth.  In this and the next three devotionals, we’ll explore what it means to live “in His image” in greater detail.  This is essential for us to understand how He calls us to live and to be confident of what He will bless in our lives.

One of the first ways God reveals Himself is as holy for relationship.  He created everything “good”, and He does so for His pleasure in relationship as Father, Son, and Spirit.  No, that’s not explicit in Genesis 1, but it is implied there and explicit elsewhere.  The Spirit is said to have been hovering over the waters, so He is distinct as the Spirit.  And when God creates Man, He says “Let us created Man in our image” (Genesis 1:26).  Some critics who do not hold to the Triune nature of God have said this is God talking to the angels.  But Scripture consistently says God created us in His image, never the angels’ image.  And John 1 is explicit that the Light of Genesis 1 was Christ, the Son, and that He was with the Father from all eternity (John 17:24, Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20, Jude 25, Revelation 1:8, etc.).  The Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct Persons in one God.

Why is it important to understand God’s image as holy for relationship?  Because our fallen human nature is inclined not to serve others as God served creation but to serve self.  And our rebellion and separation from God has not inclined us to deeper relationship but to even more isolation.

We were made to be known and to know each other deeply (1 Corinthians 13:12, Galatians 4:9, 1 John 2-3, etc.), but without Jesus’ re-creating work in our lives, we increasingly separate from each other, hurt each other, blame each other, and worse.  And we see the beginning of all those things from Genesis 3 onward.

But our glorious and gracious God wants more for us than that.

Notice that the only time God said something was not good in His new creating was Adam being alone.  (Genesis 2:18)

So many of us shake hands and smile but do not truly open up.  We surround ourselves with digital friends on social media but find little depth of trust and commitment.  We run to work, busy ourselves with people all around, and race home or to social settings where we hope to find peace but don’t.  Then we start all over again.

The Lord has made us for more than activity or survival. He’s made us for deep relationships of purity.  And that holiness is not the version of Satan’s lie – a boring “no singing or dancing” purity.  The Lord describes eternity with Him as an unending wedding feast of family together at last (Isaiah 25:6-9, Matthew 22:1-9, Revelation 21, etc.).  Real joy that’s not spoiled by anything that shouldn’t be there.  And what are the basics that should be in our relationships?  Truth, power, and love.  And we continue with the first of those in the next post in this mini-series.

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