Two Men part 5
First there was Adam. But REALLY... first there was Jesus. In the beginning was the Word (Jesus, LOVE), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. So this beast nature, this Adam mindset, is NOT our original setting, if I can say it that way. The problem was that even though we were made in the image of God... we didn't know what that image was. We didn't know what WE looked like, because we didn't know what HE looked like. Because it was dark. There was no light for us to see by. So we stumbled around in the dark, trying to get something we thought we didn't have. Trying to be someone we thought we weren't. It wasn't until the appointed time of the cross that God conformed us to the image of His Son. His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. On the cross the light of the world shined brightly. So that we could see clearly. See God clearly--not as a distant, angry taskmaster who was just waiting for us to mess up so He could get us... but as a loving heavenly Father who, on the cross, got us. And not in a negative way, but in the most positive way possible. On the cross Jesus drew all men into Himself. He planted Himself in all men. So that we could, in a sense, come out of Adam and into Jesus. Out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. The land that flows with milk (righteousness) and honey (revelation). The revelation that we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. The relvelation... of Jesus. Who He really is, and who we really are. (Did I already say that? Because I'm gonna keep saying it.) So while in the eyes of God there are only two men that have ever lived... REALLY He has only ever seen us for who we are. When God looks at us He sees Jesus. And when He looks at Jesus He sees us. Because we are in Christ. Because Christ is in us. Its that Identity Crisis (my first Jesus book) that always gets us into so much trouble. Thinking we're less than. Believing the lie (which is sin, or unbelief) that says we have to do in order to be. That says we have to earn something that can't be earned. That says we are not who God says we are. And that, friends, is really what faith comes down to: Believing that you ARE who God says you are. Listening to that still, small voice deep inside your heart that tells you the ultimate truth of the universe--that God is love and He loves you. That the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. That YOU are that Son that God loves, and is pleased with, and has given everything to. We have it all. God wanted the best for us, so He gave the best to us. Jesus didn't just give His life for us, He gave it to us. So that we could experience it as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. So that we might know the truth and let the truth set us free and make us free. There WERE two men, and they both died on the cross. Then ONE man--the Son of man, Jesus, the Lord from heaven--rose again to abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. And that's what we have because of the work HE finished. That's the life of love we can live by letting God love us and loving each other with that same love!