Hello Everyone,
Read with today Genesis 2:15-17:

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

God made man with a purpose in mind. As Adam communed with God and followed God’s direction, God’s eternal purpose was accomplished through Adam as he lived in such a way as to bring GLORY to God; and man was blessed and fulfilled.Genesis 1:26-27 tells us how man was made.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Man was made in God’s image, which means that man was made with a spiritual nature so that he could commune with God and a physical nature so he could commune with the created world.Genesis 1:26-27 also tells us WHY man was made that way. Literally, the phrase “in our likeness’ contains the idea of PURPOSE—that is, the reason man was created as a spiritual being was so that by communing with God and obeying His direction, he could reflect God’s GLORY, and His LIKENESS.

Also, man was to rule over all of creation to bring GLORY to its creator (v. 26).But when man chose to decide for himself what was good and what was evil, he experienced death. Literally translated, verse 17 says, “dying, you will die.”

When man chose to decide for himself what was good and what was evil, instead of trusting God to guide him, he placed himself in the role of God and cut himself off from God, who is the source of all life. Sin entered the picture (sin is going my way as opposed to God’s way), and man immediately died spiritually (cut off from God), and eventually died physically. “For the wages of sin is death.” - Romans 6:23a (NIV)Sin keeps man from fulfilling God’s original purpose.

Man condemned himself to living an unfulfilled life. “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” - Romans 3:23

God centered living is the only way that we can reflect God’s Glory. It is God’s desire for us to shine with the Glory of God.

Oh How HE Loves Us!
Pastor Phil