Low View of God = Low View of Humanity

The most important thing about humanity is God, both our constitution as being created in His image and our thoughts of who He is.  The lower the thoughts of God then, by association, the lower the thoughts of humanity.  It is no wonder that those who diminish God would also be those that diminish humanity by that same right.

For if the worth and value of a human is determined by the fact that we are created by God in His image.  This is the very definition of man.  Therefore, whenever we reduce our thoughts of God we equally reduce our thoughts of humanity.  We cannot, nor shall we be able to, separate this connection. Let us then never forget this reality that the low view of God is the culprit of the low view of humans, while a high view of God will have an equal but opposite result.

A Matter of Maintenance

If you are anything like me then you hate it when things do not work properly, particularly if those things are important or necessary.  I think of the hassle and headache that a broken car can be, the stress caused by a malfunctioning appliance, or even the simplicity of clutter filling my bedroom.  When things are not working properly it can make everything else seem like it isn't either.  While we may all very easily accept such an assertion, I wonder how well it applies to our personhood, namely, our lives.

Think about what it is to be human.  We could easily think of ourselves solely as material creatures, a misconception too often conceived.  In this case, we would consider life merely a matter of consistently performing basic material functions (eat, sleep, drink, excrete, sexual reproduction, et al).  The thought, similar to that of any other physical item, would  be a matter of maintenance, as in, the effectiveness of the human is weighed by his/her thoroughness and consistency in material maintenance.

However, it takes no great genius to see an inherent discrepancy in this proposition.  Humans are not merely corporeal beings.  Constitutionally, we possess inherent non-material qualities such as love, spirit, etc.  Therefore, f we were to reduce our maintenance requirements to the physical and neglect the constitutionally non-physical elements of our natures then we would find ourselves grossly if not wholly anemic and, without fail, working as poorly as that decrepit jalopy that parks in the yard down the street.

But there is an order here that should not be understated: God comes first.  Humans were created to 'run' on God just as gasoline-fueled cars were built to run on gasoline.  And just as cars need more than just gasoline to run, humans need other things too like food, sleep, etc. to run fully it is God who is the ultimate fuel.  It is when we start to think those other things more important or vital than that One thing who is God.  This is like a car having a great stereo, custom paint job, beautiful rims, but no engine.  Let us than keep this perspective throughout the prioritization of our lives so as to always be in focus to running properly!

In Him we Live and Move and Have our Being

Paul, on his second missionary journey, came to the city of Athens.  A city heralded for its sophistry and its intellect, Athens was also an influential city in the mediterranean world.  In many ways, outside of Rome itself, Athens may have been the port of ideas that spread philosophy and education across the known world.  It proved to be a good place for Paul to preach a message to the Aeropogus on Mars Hill.

And while Paul's gospel message was met with varied apathy and sneering flippancy, there was a minority of listeners that were touched by God.  This message is recorded for us in Acts 17.  The message in its entirety is certainly worth reading and thinking through, however, it is the final words of the message that strike me to the heart today: "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28).

Perhaps no statement in Scripture outside of Deut 7:7-11 or John 3:16 rings more clearly about the nature of God and His relationship to man.  He made us, knitting us together with every strand of DNA and fiber of marrow or joint in the womb (Psa 139:13).  This fact alone is the fundamental truth of reality, the truth of humanity, and the primary description of the human life.

He made us.  He owns us.  Every breath we breathe is a gift from His sovereign hand of grace.  There is nothing, not one thing about humanity that cannot be boiled down to this: we are His.  He has it in His full rights to terminate our lives at any moment.  And we deserve that termination because of our disobedience and lovelessness (please read that sentence again).

But yet He shows us mercy.  He does give us breath, He does give us reason and intellect, He does give us relationships, and He does give us the ability to not choose to recognize those gifts of grace at all.  In fact, He loves humanity so much that He allows to spurn Him for our very beings!  And He still loves us!

Today, do not let this day pass without considering the graciousness of God.  I implore you to think about Him.  Dwell on His mercy, linger on His forgiveness as it relates to our faithlessness.  And when you feel that you have tired of that, think, at last, of what God Himself has done by sending His Son to be crushed and murdered for all our sin so that we would not have to meet that fate.  Think about that.  Pray about that.  Above all else: praise God!  For "In Him we live and move and have our being."