Genesis 1:24-31
Main Verse: Genesis 1:31
By Brian Phillips
Reflection
On the morning of Day Six, God looked at all He had created and said, “It is good.” But, He wasn’t finished. That afternoon, He would perform His greatest act.
Knowing His next and last creation was going to be the best, He actually announced it first (much like us, when we want to make sure someone is watching, right before we do something really awesome). He announced His next creation was going to be just like Him . . . with a little bit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit thrown in!
This one would be different in other ways, too. He would give this one authority over everything on earth. And, unlike every other creation up to this point, He was going to make an immediate connection with this one. He, Himself, was going to breath the breath of life into its nostrils.
The name of this magnificent creation would be “Man” (and, “Woman”).
Being created last was both an honor and a humbling thing. An honor, because God wanted everything to be perfect and complete before introducing man and woman to their new home. Humbling, because if man ever got too prideful, he could be reminded that even the fly was created before he was.
When all was said and done, God sat back and took survey of all He had made. And, rather than tweak it here and there, He looked at all He had done, and said, “It is very good! I wouldn’t change a thing!”
Food for Thought
Bjørn Lomborg is a statistician and an environmentalist. He’s also at the center of controversy. You see, Mr. Lomborg claims that the environment is “vastly improving.” Though still not “ideal” or “good enough,” he asserts that the quality of water and air in the industrialized world has improved. We are moving in the right direction, though you’d never know it by the reports on TV.
If Mr. Lomborg is right, why do eco-terrorists intentionally harm loggers who are just doing their jobs? Or, why do some people seem more concerned about a snail, than the thousands of people tortured and killed for professing the love of Jesus in foreign countries?
I think the answer is this: We have lost sight of our significance to God. Our mortal enemy, Satan, distorts the truth in order to convince us that we are less important than other living things. And the result is a disregard for human life.
So What Now?
When God looks at you, and those around you, He says, “It is very good!” How will that change the way you treat others, or even yourself?
Prayer
Dear Lord, help me to see myself, and those around me, as created in Your image, so that I might not treat others, or even myself, with indifference, disdain, or arrogance.