What Is Man,...? Posted 02/10/2013

After reading through David's post today, I was reminded of the passage in the Psalm of David 8:4 

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visiteth him?”

 In light of the study in this 8th Psalm, man seems so puny in the vastness of God's creation.  Yet, still, as we're told in the 5th verse, He bothers to crown man with “glory and honor.”  A creature, so unlikely and without hope to help himself, is redeemed with a ransom of grace in such fashion beyond man's imagination.
Even the prophet Isaiah put it in this manner when he said: “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”   I heard this put in a paraphrase version as quite simply, “Man is a nose with air within.”  It's just that simple, especially if we leave out the life of God within the man.

The Giver of the spirit in the man, and the breath that he breathes, are all gifts of the Most High God.  We exist for His pleasure and His purpose.  Yet, without receiving the Gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus the Lord, this existence will be one for vain purposes.

When we deserved nothing but condemnation, God provided a way to bring justice in our sentence through His Son, without sin, taking our sin and paying our penalty.  What a price for a people (or a man) of so seeming little significance.  Our God counted us worthy in Christ, and His great love paid our dues.

At our very least offering of gratitude, we should present our bodies before Him as living sacrifices according to His Word.  How grateful we should eternally be that He was “mindful of us.”  Man is, but a breath until God places His Spirit within him and Christ begins to be formed within us in a process of sanctification.

If this life is unknown to you today, the following verses will give you the key to eternal life:

John 3:16,17  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

May you be crowned with glory and honor in Him,

Julie