Godly Men Part 2

Before I look at how God created man I want to remind everyone how ungodly the world has become and how there is a danger that people who attend church and call themselves Christians are comfortable living like the world. 2 Timothy 3:1-5  says:   “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” This is a very clear description of the world in which we live, plus there is one other thing under clear attack and that is the sanctity of marriage. The media teaches sex before marriage is acceptable, also you can live together without being married. Marriage does not have to be permanent also having children without marriage is acceptable. Also, people of the same sex living together is not wrong. These standards are not part of being Godly. Every day on the news there are reports of violence in the community. The list could go on but what is written is enough for us to return to Holy, Godly living that God planned from the beginning.  Now let us look at Genesis 1:26-27  ‘Then God said, “Let Us make man (mankind) in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man(mankind) in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them’. These verses are so profound, it takes some time for the truth of them to be part of our understanding and apply them to the way that we live. The verses state that man was made in the image and likeness of God, this means that the character of God and the character of man were the same, this demonstrates the greatness of His creation. While there are many characteristics of God’s character in this blog I want to look at the two most obvious – God is love and God is good. It is important to know that the word love is an action and not a feeling – this is where the god of this world has misled people to believe love is a feeling. 1 John 4:8 says: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love”.  John 3:16a says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”. And  1 Corinthians 13:4-8a describes the action of love, it is so important that we equate action with the word love. The goodness of God is continually under attack because it seems easy just to blame God for the evil that is in the world and this is a lie. Psalm 33:4-5 says:” For the word of the Lord is right, and all His works are done in truth, He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”.  I am so glad that man was created in God’s image and likeness because the power of sin has been broken by Jesus on the cross so we have the opportunity to live in the likeness and image of God.