God, Man and Clouds

I am not exactly sure how I got here…
I mean, the intent in the beginning was to post a series about God and clouds… clouds and God and how God uses clouds to demonstrate his love for us… but I would be remise if I didn’t mention how man i.e. humans fit into this schema especially after reading the last two posts Who is God and Who is Jesus. I have wanted to write about the human race, but wasn’t convinced that I was ready to do so. However, looking back, it was bold and rather impetuous for me… not a theologian… not a seminary graduate or even a student, never haven taken a class online or anything…just a reader… I just read the bible, to attempt to define God and Jesus… Honestly!

Well, here goes… Who is man? Who are we really?
In the beginning, God tells us we are his creation and before he created the human race, he created a home for us filled with all manner of living things in it that we could enjoy and love and care for. He told his newly designed people, “I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds”… and then he said, [oh, btw]… “Have a lot of children! LOL..Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth” and he blessed them (Genesis 1: 26-30).

Basically, God created and here we are. Then… “God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good!” (Genesis 1: 31). God was very pleased by his work… his creation. Why?

I don’t think God was pleased just because he created; it is more complex than that. If it was just about creating something to create something, like making a few clay figures that can walk about, the excitement and enjoyment of it, would pass quickly. But for God, the thrill is not gone. He still has buy-in. God cares deeply about the affairs of man. So why Is God vested in us?

Then God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us…. [and] God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women” (Genesis 1: 26-27). God saved creating man until last… interesting, very interesting.

Think about it… God, the Supreme Being, creator and ruler of all put Himself in us. “The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. Reader, such is the God of the Bible; but how widely different from the God of most human creeds and apprehensions!” (Barnes)

When God created the other forms, he did not make them with his likeness. Man is and was a new species and essentially very different than all other kinds on earth. So, what does in our image after our likeness mean?

From the earlier verses, we can deduce that God thinks, speaks, wills, and acts (Genesis 1:3-4) and man, having his image, also has the ability of reason, speech, will, and power. By reason, we understand concrete things in perception and consciousness and are cognizant of abstract truth, both metaphysical and moral. By speech, we communicate to ourselves and others. By will, we choose, determine, and resolve. By power, we act, either in giving expression to our concepts in words, or in effect to our determination in deeds. We discern of good and evil and in the will can exercise the freedom of action to choose the good and refuse the evil. In the spiritual being that exercises reason and will, resides the power to act, which presupposes both these faculties – the reason as informing the will, and the will as directing the power (Barnes).

You may not believe all this, but before you click the ‘back arrow’ leaving the blog, never to return again, never ever, ever never… hear me out on just one more thought….

The real question, which is the question of questions… asked by man, all humans throughout all time, is…

If I, me specifically and uniquely, was created by God with his likeness and image, to what end… what is my purpose?

And now we come down to it. Why did God design you and all of mankind?
God created because he loved. It’s that simple. He made you to love him. God like all parents, wanted us to have his likeness, wanted the very best for us, so he put himself in us, which is what all parents do. God created us for himself and gave himself to us and for us. Our likeness and purpose is intertwined with the purpose and pleasure of God. We need God nothing else will satisfy.

“Why waste your Money on what really isn’t food? Why work hard for something that doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will enjoy the very best foods. Pay close attention! Come to me and live. I will promise you eternal love” (Isaiah 55: 2-3a)

“Jesus answered, ‘The Scriptures say, No one can live only on food. People need every word that God has spoken” (Matthew 4:4).

We were made to love God. We have a need to love God, plain and simple. God placed genetic code in us attracting us to God, like iron to magnet. This gene sequence exerts dominance, so much so that without him, we are restless… longing…. searching, searching for Him. We miss God. Only in relationship with God are we complete.

If you are searching, looking for a specifically, unique purpose for your life, we will never find it, apart from God! It doesn’t exist. You can search but nothing will satisfy…work, food, relationships, money, wealth, fame… if you could achieve all those things… its not enough. Only God can and will bring peace and satisfaction… because you were made to love God!