Who Am I?
"What is man that you take thought of him or the son of man that you should care for him?" Psalm 8:4 This is the ultimate question for human beings to answer. What are we? Are we a highly developed species of animal? Are we a random collection of molecules? Are we blank slates ready to be created according to whatever image we decide? What are we? What gives us worth? What counts as success? What counts as failure? The sexual license that we have practiced here in America has wreaked havoc on what "normal" human practice is and ought to be. Are we male or female? Many are trying to give the answer: both and neither at the same time. We stand on the precipice of utter chaos and darkness. It is no coincidence that the Bible paints the picture of the pre-creation of the world as a world of darkness and disorder. When God said "Let there be light!" He began to bring the world into order. But it is not just the "natural world" as we call it, that God granted normalcy, it is the human being who heard that word as well. In the Genesis explanation of the world, human beings are granted the unique purpose of being God's vice-regents in the world. We are the ones through whom God has chosen to bring His order. This is what the Psalmist declares and celebrates in Psalm 8 when He says that God has: "displayed His splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease." Psalm 8:1-2 Even in the voice of a baby human God is declaring His Lordship over creation. This is part of what it means to bear "the image" of God in creation. And it is because of this image stamped upon us that there are proper roles for human beings in the world, both sexually and otherwise. In a sexual relationship, one gives themselves, albeit seemingly temporarily, to their sexual partner. And the two become one. It is an act of submission and in a sense, worship. At least within the God-given context, it is an act of worship. The image of God has two halves, the heavenly and the earthly and they belong together, just as Jesus declared "I and the Father are One." When the two halves of God's image bearers are joined together as one, it brings order to the cosmos and glory to the God who is the creator and sustainer of life. It is no coincidence that this sexual union reproduces life. This is one way that we can be sure that God the creator designed things in just this way. He is a God of reproducing life. How you answer the question "What is man?" is EVERYTHING. The entire trajectory of your life depends upon how you answer that question. The current state of sexuality in the West is at best utterly confused and in its worse, it is giving its own version of Pilate's cowardly response to his confrontation with Jesus: "What is truth?" We are choosing chaos and pride over repentance, order, and beauty. The image of God stands before us and we are choosing to crucify it. But God who called creation into order the first time, is still calling it back into order today. There is a resurrection waiting and available for the defaced human race. What is man? The Psalmist says: "You have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You put all things in subjection under his feet, all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!" This is what we are made to be, God's vice-regents in the world. This is why God calls us into repentance in Jesus, so that He can set the world right through His us! It begins within us and moves out into all creation. There is only one way out of chaos and darkness and that is to turn to the Light and the Truth. You were not born to survive. You were not born for chaos. You were not born for pain and indifference. You were born to share the image of God in all creation. Come and be healed.