Episode Details

Prayer

Lord I come to you now for strength and food for my soul. I give all thanks to you for your goodness and care this day, and I pray that you may please help me now. Lord, without you, my soul perishes. Please unite my heart to fear your name, show me wonderful things from your word, and let your Holy Spirit have full residence and sway in my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Reading

Genesis 2:5-7.

“When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Meditation

Who are you? According to the theory of evolution, man is nothing but an animal. For those who believe in evolution, that belief will inform how they see themselves. If man thinks he is nothing but an animal, it should come as no surprise when he starts behaving more like an animal. In Psalm 73:21 the psalmist says: “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” Man cut adrift from God becomes like a brute – we’re going to see that later in Genesis 4. But that is not the way it was supposed to be. We’re not animals. So – what are we? There are three things I’d like to draw to your attention in response to that as we consider our text for today.

Firstly, we see that man is an earthly being. We are made of earth, and our bodies return to earth when we die. We live on the earth, we work with the earth. Everything you see in your life, in one way or another, is a product of the earth. Grains and food, cars made out of metals, houses with clay tiling and bricks, timber bookshelves, everything – we are earthly. Furthermore, we are called to fill the earth. We’re called to work the earth to the glory of God.

Secondly, man is a heavenly being. God is not earthly, he is not of this earth, he is holy and set apart from his creation. God is Spirit (Jn 4:24). God made the earth to be good, and to reflect his glory, but he himself is infinitely higher and exalted over that which he made. This ought to humble us as we consider we are part of this world. However, God also crowned us with glory and honour, because while we are made of earth, we are also made in his image – and we have a spiritual nature as well. You are a spiritual being.

In Luke 12:22 Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” Earth, in a sense, is merely a carrier of something heavenly and more excellent. Your life is more than food and clothing. True life is to know and love God. In John 17:3 Jesus said: “...this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Thirdly, man is a union of heaven and earth. We are earthly, and spiritual, and God has brought the two together in us. He has exalted us and glorified us by making us in his image, and by giving us life through Christ. But he has also made us to live in his creation. Even in the next life, we will live in the new heavens and the new earth. We will not be bodiless floating spirits in some cloudy heavenly realm, these fallen bodies of dust in which we now live will be glorified – but they will still be bodies. In fact, scripture says that they will be “heavenly bodies” (1 Cor 15:44), though what exactly that means I have little idea! We are a union of heaven and earth.

Be ye doers of the word…

How then shall we live? As we’ve