Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers… I want to write about the most precious gift that God has given to mankind, and that gift is LIFE! We are told in Genesis that God created all living creatures; those that fly in the air, those that live in the sea, those that walk on the earth, but His proudest and final creation was Man. Genesis 1:26- 27, 2:7 gives this account: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind (male and female) in our image, (to differentiate our distinctiveness from all previous animal creations), in our likeness (so we can have the ability to reflect His glory), so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all creatures that move along the ground. So, God created mankind in His own image. He formed Man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (His life), and Man became a living being.”
Notice that Man’s existence began with God’s breath. And what prompted that first breath? Love! And why did God want to create a human creature in His image? His plan, even before the world was created, (Ref. Ephesians 1:3-6) was to create Man (us) for a relationship with Himself so we could reflect His glory. Unfortunately, that original intent was short-lived, and ended when Sin entered the world. From that point forward, Man became more interested in reflecting his own glory than reflecting the glory of God.
So, what is this beautiful “thing” called LIFE. (Note: I will use all caps when this word is a noun, and I will use lower case when it is a verb, denoting action.) LIFE is a state of being, and refers to “being alive.” Prior to God’s breath, we didn’t exist as a being; we were only an image created from dust. But when God breathed LIFE into His new creation, He gave us LIFE…His LIFE. In that instance, we became “alive” and we had the ability to move, to see, to taste and to smell, but most important was our ability to think and to make choices. We were prepared at that point, to enter into that all-important relationship with Him, should we choose to do so. But that ability to choose would become the linchpin that would ultimately define not only our physical LIFE, but also our spiritual LIFE.
Now before I move on, we must consider the flip-side of LIFE. Just as the saying, “What goes up must come down” is true, the same is also true for LIFE. When something is alive, there is the inevitable end to that existence called “death”. Death denotes the absence of life. To our human way of thinking, birth is the beginning of life, death is the end (or absence) of life…or is it?
So why is this subject of LIFE so important? Well, we have this incredible gift from God that is intended to be our “period of time” for bringing honor and glory to Him. But as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, we are also called to love and to be of service to our fellow man. So… the truth is, this life, our physical life, is a time of testing – an audition period, so to speak, that either qualifies or disqualifies us from ETERNAL LIFE in Paradise with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all other Christ-followers. That life, ETERNAL LIFE, is the true prize at the end of this race, not this life. (Note: that last statement is also the answer to the dangling three-word question at the end of the previous paragraph.) “This life” is the obstacle course that determines our destiny…our ETERNAL destiny!
In the first paragraph, we are told that God gave us dominion over the birds, the fish, the livestock, and all other wild animals. But there were two other charges given to the first inhabitants: “Be fruitful and multiply, and subdue the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) Hum? Subdue the earth? Did God know something they didn’t know? Well, when satan was cast out of heaven after his rebellion against God, notice that he wasn’t just “cast out of heaven”, but he was “cast down to earth.” (Revelation 12:9) God was not surprised when Eve met satan; In fact, He knew it would happen. But He also knew that encounter would put into motion what I have referred to before as His eternal morality play of “GOOD vs. EVIL.”
When we are born into this world, we are born to be actors in this inevitable play. We don’t know we’re actors in a play; in fact, we don’t even care about such things. We just go about doing what comes naturally. We make choices that bring honor and glory to ourselves, and we are particularly fond of things that exalt us or pleasure us. Such is the LIFE of the “natural man” before he chooses to accept God’s Gift of Grace (salvation!)
At this point, the term “life” can take on a slightly different meaning. During this new period of time, we are in a process called “sanctification”, which means we are becoming more Christ-like in our thoughts, words and deeds. Now we are no longer slaves to “self”, or as the Bible calls it, our “sin-nature”. Now we can call on the Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above life’s struggles to become the person God created us to be. 2Peter 1:3-4 explains this perfectly: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, His divine nature (the Holy Spirit) gives us everything we need for living a godly life. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable us to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”
No doubt everyone reading this is going to die physically. No one gets out of this world alive. “We began as dust, and we will return to dust.” (Genesis 3:19) But the true gift of LIFE is ETERNAL LIFE, and God has already made it possible for everyone to experience that blessing. He paid a hefty price for our salvation! It was the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, that paid the penalty for our sins. Therefore, when we accepted His Gift of Grace, we were immediately “justified” (made right) in His sight because we accepted His gift. Now let me share with you the powerful Scripture, Romans 6:23, that contrasts the fate of the “natural man” with the fate of the “saved man”. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift from God is eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.”
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, our most precious gift from God is LIFE itself. Therefore, I feel I would be remiss if I did not shine the spotlight on the incredible affront to God that is being perpetrated by those in our midst who espouse a liberal, progressive agenda. Biblically speaking, God revealed Himself as the giver of life, and the only One who has the right to bring life to an end. Therefore, man’s attempt to play god by making available the choice to kill babies in their mother’s wombs can be nothing less than abhorrent in the eyes of God.
The Old Testament is resplendent with examples of God’s anger against nations that sacrificed their children to the pagan idols of Baal and Moloch. Canaan and Israel both bore God’s wrath when they turned to such practices. Therefore, since God is a just God and levies His judgement accordingly, how could America escape such a fate when the abortion rate at this point is 47.5 million aborted babies since Roe v Wade.
I will close with Jonathan Cahn’s powerful statement concerning this matter. “When Israel’s children were sacrificed on Baal’s altars, the nation deafened its ears to their cries. But God did not. The blood of the innocent would lead to the nation’s judgment. So, in the modern case, we (America) have likewise lifted up our children on the altars of wealth, power, control, and legalized murder, and have likewise deafened our ears to their cries. But even by the most basic measures of morality, the clear and unavoidable truth remains: the killing of an unborn child, the taking of an innocent life, is as wrong and horrific as any human act could be wrong and horrific. And as in ancient times, no amount of words, legislation, or rulings can alter that fact. That we have sanctioned such a thing or have done and said nothing to oppose it is an indictment, not only of our present civilization, but of all who have sanctioned it or done and said nothing to oppose it.” (Jonathan Cahn, author of The Harbinger)
My hope in bringing this horrific practice into the light, is that it will prompt you to pray against this offense that plagues the very character of our country. As we are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” Amen!
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May God Bless You abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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