What Am I Doing Here?

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:27-31 ESV).

I saw the cartoon recently and as the teacher pointed to the board where “birth – in between stuff – death” was written and the student asked, “That’s it?” Seriously, haven’t you at least silently wondered, “What is the meaning of life?” The answer is answered on the first page of the Bible. It says, “So, God created man in His own image.” When we understand that statement we may begin to understand the meaning of life. Today and tomorrow we’re going to look at those answers a bit. We can begin by stating the obvious. It doesn’t mean we physically appear as God. To be “in God’s likeness” goes deeper than our physical appearance. Let me make some observations: First, we can think like God. Oh, we can’t think as deeply or fully as God, but we can reason. We can be creative. In all of creation we are the only sentient creatures. We think; we dream; and we reason. Second, we are created to rule over creation. There is responsibility with that privilege. We need to care for it, protect it, and use it in a way that is pleasing to God. However, we do have the right to govern our natural surroundings. Third, we are spiritual beings. Unlike the rest of creation, we are made with the capacity to worship God. This results in a personal relationship with God. Sin certainly got in the way of that, but Jesus’ work restores that part of our creation. Fourth, we are moral beings. We are created to deal with right and wrong. Innately we have an understanding of what is right. Placed within all men is a moral compass that mirrors God’s character and being. Understanding these things begins to give us an understanding of why we are here. We are to reflect God. Tomorrow we’ll go a bit deeper. Today rejoice in the high purpose. Reflect on how well you are doing that.