Devotional: Created One People

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22, NASB). Today Abra comes to say good-bye to Marilyn and me. She has on her jacket a button with these words written: “Make America Human Again.” Abra tells us that she got the button when she went on the march, the “Me Too” march earlier this year. The button symbolizes that American are treating each other like anything other than a human being. It seems that cruelty, discrimination, and divisions rule the day. People have a vision of an America in which people are treated with kindness, inclusion, and togetherness. Will this day ever be realized in America and throughout the world? The answer is no on one hand, but it is yes on the other hand. The creation narratives in Genesis tell us that God created one people. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27 (NASB). “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (2:7, NASB). Man is created physically with the same elements found in the ground, and man has the Spirit of God in him. Something happened to cause man to die. The man and the woman eat from the forbidden tree and they die. Immediately, God’s Spirit departs from them because they have sinned. The stage is set for all men to be born in sin and die a physical death. So, America and the world will never be fully whole humans as God created them. The good news is that the day is coming when all who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ will be fully human again without any defects. Paul writes: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:20-22, NASB). What can Americans do to become human again? Nothing, for Christ has done all the work necessary. His shed blood redeems us from sin. The result is this: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17, NASB). Prayer: Father, we thank you for Christ our Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving us from our sins so that we can be made new; so that we can be human again. Amen