Thursday, 8 October 2020
Title: Creation Par Excellence!
By: Cecilia Tan 陈俊芳

Psalm 139:13-14
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

As King David, author of Psalm 139, considered the painstaking attention to details God took in creating him, he could not help but be overwhelmed by God’s power and creative wisdom. His automatic response was to burst forth in praise to God for His magnificent achievement in causing man to be so fearfully and wonderfully made.

Indeed, like David, when we think about the intricacies of the inner workings of our beings, we can only gasp in wonder at God’s indescribably awe-inspiring process of creating man in His own image! Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, 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 the creatures that move along the ground.'”

Man is the only living creature created in God’s image. This does not mean a physical likeness to God (as God is spirit) but refers to the capabilities of knowing, responding to and having fellowship with God as well as with his fellow human beings. Man has been endowed with a rational, moral and spiritual nature so that we can have communion with God and come to resemble Him in a manner impossible to other earthly creatures.

In fact, man was the crowning glory and climax of God’s creative activity. After everything else had been created by God and the earthly infrastructure put in place for the advent of man, he was created by God on the sixth day of creation. (Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”)

Man was then created to be a triune being with body (to interact with the environment i.e. world consciousness), soul ( to relate to self and others i.e. self-consciousness) and spirit (to relate to God i.e. God-consciousness).

We can only marvel at our amazing bodies… Each of us has about 100,000 hairs on our head, 650 muscles, 206 bones, 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries and around 86 billion neurons or nerve cells in our brain! Within our bodies, the most awesome chemical and mechanical processes take place daily without our realization and we are often not thankful for their smooth functioning! The human body is indeed a masterpiece of exquisite design, comprising several hundred systems of control, each interacting with and affecting the other, to enable us to see, hear, touch, taste and smell.

What about our brains? … Only a three-pound bundle of gray and white matter, and yet it is faster and more complex than any supercomputer! There is no need to upgrade its capabilities by changing or adding parts, and it can last even up to a hundred years or more!

More importantly, man resembles God in his possession of a soul. When God created Adam, He “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) Man’s soul comprises the mind, the emotions and the will. With the mind, we can think. With the emotions, we can feel. With the will, we can choose. Robots may look like humans. But they have neither souls nor spirits! Unlike man, they do not have the power to choose and can only perform tasks that have been programmed into their operating systems by their manufacturers.

God also created us with a spirit. The spirit is the eternal, divine power that comes direct from God. It gives man God-consciousness so that we can know Him, worship Him and connect with Him to fulfil His purpose for our lives. Of all living creatures, man is the only one with a unique capacity for worship and fellowship with God.

The whole man is therefore a very special being created in God’s image so that he can rule over the earth and everything in it! Simultaneously while on his earthly journey, a regenerated man has also been made to be the temple of the Holy Spirit so that he may be the representative of God’s kingdom here on earth.

In the future age of the Millennium, man will be ruler over the world with Christ the Lord! (Revelation 20:4, “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge… They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”) We will possess glorified bodies and be joint-heirs with Christ in the ultimate era of the New Heaven and New Earth. To this end we were created, but the choice is entirely ours – whether to accept this plan or to reject it in favour of open rebellion against God!

We are not God Almighty but we have been created in His image. We cannot call forth into existence a galaxy of stars but we can create in a small way befitting our stature as man. We ought to be as creative as possible in every field of human endeavour for our benefit and for the benefit of all those around us. (Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”)

So, if that inner voice keeps telling us that we are not good enough for God’s purposes, just thrash that lie! Don’t buy the lie, don’t pursue it and don’t live it! Claim the truth of God’s Word which declares that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator God, as the crowning glory of His CREATION PAR EXCELLENCE! We are definitely good enough to fulfil His divine purpose, as well as to live the abundant life destined for us even while we were in our mothers’ wombs!

Prayer:

Our Heavenly Father, what a unique privilege to be fearfully and wonderfully made in Your image! Forgive us for the times we fail to live up to that image and act in ways that bring shame to Your name. Help us to be mindful of our status as Your representatives here on earth, and live lives worthy of Your divine image. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

每日灵粮
星期四， 2020年10月8日
标题：最卓越的创作
作者：陈俊芳姐妹
翻译：薛秀合姐妹

诗篇139:13-14
“我的肺腑是你所造的；我在母腹中，你已覆庇我。我要称谢你，因我受造，奇妙可畏；你的作为奇妙，这是我心深知道的。”

当诗篇139的作者大卫王思想到上帝精心创造他的每个细节时，他都不禁对上帝的能力和创造的智慧感到敬畏不已。他的自然反应就是颂赞上帝伟大的作为，因祂把人造得如此奇妙可畏。

的确，就像大卫一样，当我们想到人体内在器官运作的复杂性时，我们只能赞叹上帝以自己的形象造人的过程，是多么匪夷所思且令人敬畏不已！创世记1:26，“神说：我们要照着我们的形像、按着我们的样式造人，使他们管理海里的鱼、空中的鸟、地上的牲畜，和全地，并地上所爬的一切昆虫。”

人是唯一按照上帝的形象所造的活物。这并不是说体形似上帝（因为上帝是个灵），而是指我们与上帝及与其他人相识、回应和相交的能力。人被赋予理性、道德和精神的本性，因此我们可以与上帝相交，并以其他动物无可能企及的方式与祂相像。

实际上，人类是上帝创造之工的荣耀冠冕，也是上帝创造之工的顶峰。在上帝创造了一切其他事物并为人类的到来建立了基础设施之后，人就在造物的第六天由上帝创造了。
（创世记1:27，“神就照着自己的形像造人，乃是照着他的形像造男造女。”）

人的被造具三个部分：体（与环境互动，即世界意识）、魂（与自己和他人建立关系，即自我意识）和灵（与上帝相交，即上帝的意识）。

我们只能惊叹于我们奇妙的身体……我们每个人都有大约100,000根头发，650块肌肉，206根骨头，60,000英里的动脉、静脉和毛细血管，以及我们大脑中约860亿个神经元或神经细胞！在我们体内，每天都有惊人的化学和机械过程在我们不知不觉之下发生着，而我们却经常不懂得为它们的平稳运行感恩！人体真的是精致设计的杰作，它由数百个控制系统组成，每个控制系统相互配搭并彼此影响，使我们能够看到、听到、触摸、品尝和闻到。

我们的大脑又如何呢？……只有三磅重的一束灰色和白色物质，但是它比任何超级计算机更快，更复杂！无需通过更换或添加零件来增强其功能，它可以存续长达一百年甚至更长的时间！

更重要的是，人类像上帝是因为人有灵魂（魂）。当上帝创造亚当时，祂“用地上的尘土造人，将生气吹在他鼻孔里，他就成了有灵的活人。”（创世记2:7）人类的灵魂包括神智，情感和意志。有了神智，我们就可以思考。有了情感，我们就能感觉到。有了意志，我们可以选择。机器人可能看起来像人类，但是他们没有灵魂也没有精神意识！与人类不同，他们没有选择权，只能执行制造商已编程到其操作系统中的任务。

上帝也用灵创造了我们。这灵是来自上帝的永恒、神圣能力。它使人有上帝的意识，以便我们可以认识祂，崇拜祂并与祂联系以实现祂在我们生活中的目的。在所有活物中，人类是唯一具有敬拜神并与神相交的独特能力。

因此，完整的人是一个按照上帝的形象所造的非常特殊活物，因此他可以治理整个地球以及其中的一切！同时，在世间旅途中，一位重生的人也成为圣灵的殿，以便他可以成为地球上神国度的代表。

在千禧年的未来时代，人类将与主基督一起成为世界的统治者！ （启示录20:4，“我又看见几个宝座，也有坐在上面的，并有审判的权柄赐给他们。我又看见那些因为给耶稣作见证，并为神之道被斩者的灵魂，和那没有拜过兽与兽像，也没有在额上和手上受过他印记之人的灵魂，他们都复活了，与基督一同作王一千年。”）在新天新地的终极时代，我们将拥有荣耀的身体，并与基督同作后嗣。我们原是为此而被造，但是选择完全是我们的 – 接受此计划或拒绝它，公开反抗上帝！

我们不是全能的上帝，但我们是按照祂的形象受造。我们不能创造出一个星系，但是我们可以根据我们小巧的方式创造出适合我们的作品。为了人类和我们周围所有人的利益，我们应该在人类活动的每个领域中尽可能发挥创造力。 （腓立比书4：13，“我靠着那加给我力量的，凡事都能做。”）
因此，如果内心的声音不断告诉我们，我们还不够好，还不能达到上帝的旨意，将那谎言粉碎吧！不要相信那谎言，不要去追逐那谎言，更不要活在那谎言中！宣称上帝话语的真理，它宣告我们是创造主奇妙可畏的创作，我们是祂最卓越创造的荣耀冠冕！我们绝对足以实现祂神圣的旨意，即使我们还在母腹中，我们也能过上我们应有的丰盛生活！

祷告：

我们的天父，是何等的特权，我们竟是按照祢的形象奇妙可畏地受造！当我们未能达到此形象而在一些行为上亏欠了祢的名时，求祢赦免我们。帮助我们牢记我们在世上的身份是作为祢的代表，活出与祢形象相称的生命。我们奉耶稣的名祈祷。阿门。