Monday, August 18, 2014

Pastor's Pondering, August 18, 2014

What is Man?

"What is man?” reads an excerpt from the book The Measure of a Man, written by Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King wrote, “There are some people, that believe ‘man is little more than an animal’ and there are those ‘who would lift man almost to the position of a God.”  Shakespeare also considered this question. In the play, Hamlet, the character says, What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties…” This question about who man really is has occupied mankind for many years.

Yet the Bible describes man as someone God made a little lower than the angels and crowned man with glory and honor and made man the rulers over the works of His hands (Psalm 8:3-8).  The scripture also emphasized, “…you put everything under their feet (Psalm 8:6). That is great news for all of us who feel overwhelmed by the many challenges of our present age.  Nothing can defeat us.

According to the Bible, we know what God thinks of us (Jeremiah 29:11). We know that He made us for great things and we know that we are even made to sit in heavenly places with Him (Ephesians 2:6). Therefore we can praise the Lord for what He has done for us and that we have a great relationship with Him.  We don’t have to be depressed or downhearted or downcast today; we are made in His image and He loves us (John 3:16).

Please comment below and share with others how you learned a new perspective about who you were in God. You can encourage others to do the same.

Psalm 8:3-8
New International Version (NIV)
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Jeremiah 29:11
New International Version (NIV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Ephesians 2:6
New International Version (NIV)
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.



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