In the Image of Christ
Colossians 3:8-11

What is Man?

    “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
 Psalms 8:3-4 (KJV)

        What is man, that thou art mindful of him? This is certainly a probing question when we stop and consider the heavens. God in power and wisdom spoke the moon and the stars into place. Incredibly, the Bible tells us that He calls each star by name. We’re still trying to find and count them all! Yet this mighty Creator God has also taken time to be “mindful” of man. The Hebrew meaning of the word “mindful” is, to remember or call to mind. Stop and consider for a moment why God would interest Himself with a tiny dot called Earth in the vastness of space, and those infinitesimal specks of dust called human beings.
        I believe that God undoubtedly displayed His awesome ability to create when He formed earth and the creatures that would inhabit this planet. After all, He did place it just the right distance from the sun. Any closer and we would burn to a crisp; any further away and we would freeze. He tilted it at the perfect angle and made it so it would pivot perfectly, thus creating our changing seasons, and of course the earth’s rotation brings us night and day. It spins at the proper speed the gravitational force is perfect. The beauty and the wonders of the earth continue to amaze and teach those that study it. Every creature that God put on this planet has its unique and distinct features and abilities. And when God finished creation on the sixth day, He said it was very good. Everything that He had created was perfect, including man.
        Yet when we look at the world today we have to stop and wonder, “what’s wrong with this picture?” Violence fills the earth. There is no respect for human life as children are aborted and trashed as if a piece of garbage. Men try to teach us that there is no God. They want us to believe the wonders of this world were created by a huge explosion that flung galaxies into space, formed planets and eventually caused life to form somewhere in a warm pool of slime. This is an intelligent explanation? They reject the biblical account of man’s rebellion in the garden of Eden, because they know that if true, they would be accountable to the God who created them.
        God tells us in Genesis that man disobeyed by doing the one and only thing that God told him not to do.  Because of this sin entered into the world. Through this act of disobedience, man’s eyes were opened to good and evil. Sin has blackened the human heart ever since. The Bible also tells us that men actually love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. The truth of this is easy to see if one is willing to just stop and look at the condition of the human race today. So we still ask, What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
        Why would the Creator of all things leave His heavenly throne and come to earth? In heaven He rightly receives the praise, worship, and honor of all the angelic beings. He was and is worshiped as the one true God. Each person stands before the eternal Judge when he dies, yet on earth men despised and rejected Him. They even planned how they might kill Him. They spat upon Him and eventually they nailed Him to a cross. In heaven, the hosts sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, only Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor.” This continues day and night forever. On earth men mocked Him and accused Him of blasphemy. In heaven there is no sin; it is not allowed in His presence, only holiness and righteousness.  Yet when He came to earth as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He took the sins of mankind upon Himself. He who knew no sin became sin for us. In heaven there is life everlasting, without sickness or death. On earth He died a death of shame and humility. He was hung between two thieves like a common criminal. The Scriptures say cursed is everyone which hangs on a tree. What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
        Today many teach that it is because of our worth that God had to come to earth to provide a way of salvation so we might live. They say that we have much to offer God. Think about it: a God who already owns everything and can create anything with a spoken word. What do we, a rebellious creation, have to offer? We are told that there is good in all of us, it just has to be brought out. They put great value on our wretched lives, lives that have nothing good to offer God. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.  Isaiah 64:6-7 (KJV) Does this sound as if it might be something that God would want? The Bible definitely gives us another picture of the human race, one that isn’t a self esteem builder. It shows the true condition of man before God. We are all as an unclean thing, Unclean means polluted or defiled. Both morally and ethically, spiritually and religiously. What do we have to offer a righteous and holy God? Nothing but wretched and sinful lives! Even those that are good in man’s eyes are rotten and filthy before God. We as human beings have nothing good in ourselves to offer God. When you die and bow before Him (and you will bow before Him) you will be cast into a lake that burns with fire for all of eternity if you are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The Bible tells us  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.  Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) It also tells us that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and our God is a consuming God. There is no way we have anything to offer God. No one will ever be able to stand before Him on his own merit. Man is totally depraved and in rebellion against God.
        Just look around at how people are fighting to get God out of the schools. Pictures, verses, and even the clothes that professing Christians wear are under attack. They want Him out of the courts and they want Him out of the government.  Both of these are institutions that He ordained  (Rom. 13:1). Men that claim Christ as their Savior are not looked at to see if they are qualified for the job. Instead they are persecuted because of the convictions they live by. This has created a spiritual void in man that has been filled with hate and wickedness. Man is quick to slap himself on the back when things are going well but he is even quicker to curse God when something has gone wrong. Man is so full of himself that he has shaken his fist in God’s face,  and said in effect, “we don’t need you in our lives. Get out, I can do it on my own!” What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
        What caused God to look down from His heavenly throne upon man? Why did He remove from His head that crown that He alone deserves to wear? What moved Him to lay aside the heavenly robe and come to earth where He had no place to call His own? He came to His own and His own received Him not. Romans5:6 says He died for the ungodly, verse 8 says He died while we were yet sinners, and verse 10 calls us enemies of God. Why then did He die for us who have nothing to offer Him in return? Ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God, yet the king of all the universe humbled Himself to the point of death on the cross. Why? What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
        Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.  Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV) This is only a love that God could show. A love to sinful men who are by nature haters of God. Only God could show the unselfish love of sending His beloved Son to die for a sinful and rebellious creation. God looked down from heaven and saw man without hope and forever condemned. So He sent us His only begotten Son to die on the cross in our place. He who is holy and righteous suffered a death for sin that should have been yours and mine. His blood flowed that we might live and be redeemed back to God. This is love beyond measure and surely undeserved. Jesus spoke these words  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.  John 12:32 (KJV)
        Dear reader, do you understand that Jesus Christ, the Creator, died for you? He died because you are lost in your sins and condemned to death before God. He died so you could be freed from your bondage of sin and have life eternal. God has loved you with an everlasting love and that love is through His Son. The death of His Son was to draw all men to Him. You have a choice to make. Either you will humble yourself before the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive you your sin, and spend eternity with Him, or you will bow the knee at judgement time and be sentenced to eternity in a lake that burns with fire, where you will be alone forever in outer darkness. Our great need to be freed from sin is what made God mindful of us!  

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New Life Bible Chapel
Time of meetings
Sunday Meeting 10:30 A.M.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 P.M.
Steve (616) 604-0462
E-mail steve_@nlbchapel.org

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