CREATED IN THE VERY IMAGE OF GOD

Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6

“In the beginning, God created…people in His own image; God patterned them after Himself. …and saw that it was excellent in every way.” 

Why do I get so anxious sometimes? No doubt, to some extent, because I forget how very well God prepared for the coming of His children.  Light was first, so we could always find our way. Then came: earth and sky; land and sea; grass and plants; sun and moon; fish and birds; and livestock and other animals, yet all were just a prelude to His pièce de résistance – people!  The Bible starts with the proposition that ALL Creation was simple preparation for us, God’s greatest work.  Just living with that truth, working to hold onto it as a daily, conscious thought, seems like a pretty good place to start this journey. God anticipated our needs up front. His answer, His advance provision, was nothing less than the totality of Creation. How precious each soul – including mine – must be to God!

The same point begins the New Testament. There’s God again, anticipating our need and answering it in Jesus Christ, even before we understand our need for Him. When I feel anxious, I need to refocus on these things. God thinks us “excellent in every way.” I need to learn to see what He sees, especially in myself. I need to find that part of me that is in His image, and nurture it. Who knows? Maybe I’ve stumbled on an “anxiety antidote:” “The Lord watches over the path of the godly.” (Psalm 1:6a)