City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man [mankind] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:26-31

²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:25 ESV

8 Does not wisdom call?
    Does not understanding raise her voice?
² On the heights beside the way,
    at the crossroads she takes her stand;
³ beside the gates in front of the town,
    at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
⁴ “To you, O men, I call,
    and my cry is to the children of man.
⁵ O simple ones, learn prudence;
    O fools, learn sense.
⁶ Hear, for I will speak noble things,
    and from my lips will come what is right,
⁷ for my mouth will utter truth;
    wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
⁸ All the words of my mouth are righteous;
    there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
⁹ They are all straight to him who understands,
    and right to those who find knowledge.
¹⁰ Take my instruction instead of silver,
    and knowledge rather than choice gold,
¹¹ for wisdom is better than jewels,
    and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Proverbs 8:1-11

Reflection

The three passages above are intended to draw a line from God’s creation of man to man’s current situation.  In Genesis 1, we see that God made man with certain things in mind.  Man is an image bearer when God says, “let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen 1:26).  Man is a worker when God says, “And let them have dominion over…”  And in Genesis 1:27, when God actually “puts pen to paper” God makes man a community.  We should have seen this coming from the beginning, given that God refers to Himself as a community. He intends to make man in His image, so man must be a community and, the idea of man as male and female was not an afterthought.  Rather, it is a brilliantly told origin story. 

At the end of Genesis 2, we see man, now created as male and female, enjoying the pinnacle of creation.  Man is innocent, unashamed, and in community, as God intended.  But perhaps all is not complete.  I am not a trained philosopher or theologian, but given what we all know happens next, it seems that there is something missing.  Adam showed his genius when he named all the animals, but if you were to ask him how much any of these animals cost what would he say?  There is community, but is the value system active yet?  Also, where is wisdom?

With the entrance of sin into the world, man can understand the need for redemption, but it is also this tension that shows man the need for judgement and discretion.  The imperfections now seen allow for the perfect to be imagined, though obtaining it is another matter.  The prodigal son must return from his stupor.

Proverbs 8 says that “Wisdom calls out” and that “Understanding raises her voice,” thus preventing man from being able to say, “I did not know.”  We do know that we sin, and we do know that we do not always follow the path of wisdom.  So, the only road back is the prodigal road of repentance.  We must learn to say, “I was wrong” and “it was my mistake.”  And we must also learn to say, “I forgive you, return to our community.”

Application

The three pillars on which man sat just before the Fall must be sought after and practiced daily.  Being innocent, being unashamed, and being in community are essential to a life well lived.  This is how we were made to be.  The sin we hold on to keeps us from it.  Repentance and confession are major tools of relationship reconstruction.  While the goal is to always be in right relationship, I think we all understand that right relationship is only maintained if you are constantly working on it.  There are forces in this world, and in our hearts, that pull us away from the perfect, so we must constantly work at it.

Such “fixes” work best if you start with the internal.  I must get my heart right if I want to be successful in attending to my spouse, my children, my friends.  I must also understand that there will be certain days in which I must give 100% because my spouse, my children, and my friends are not able.  For I know that there may be days when I am at zero, though I do not wish it for myself.

All of this to say, this is a journey of love.  Not love as the world might say but love as God intended.  And it is love’s journey that keeps us on the right, the true, and the good. 

Prayer

Blessed Lord, thank you for all of Your creation and Your wonderful design.  Your kingdom cries out to me hearts, “come!”  and I obey.  Give me the grace to come to You every day to learn community.  Give me the grace to come to You every day to learn innocence.  And give me the grace to come to You every day to learn wisdom.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.