Beautiful landscapes, green vegetation, everywhere seem calm and peaceful. Hmm, I like it. Blue skies with wonderful birds hovering about it, lovely and beautiful creatures living in harmony. Everything is in order just the way I had intended it to be. Excellent! Excellent! This is good, very good. This is presumably God expressing excitement over the work of His hand. He was happy about His creation. So upon looking at everything He said it was very good. Genesis 1:3;
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good…”
Apparently in the beginning the world was very good, no pollution, no stains and there was no sin. Harmony thrived and peace rained. Nature enjoyed equilibrium. There was balance and the mechanics of the elements of the world was in order. It was a beautiful world.
We can see from the foregoing that the idea of creating the universe was exciting to God. The most High was happy about it. A major reason for God’s excitement apart from the beauty and splendor of the world, and of every other elements of nature, whether they are living or non living, was that, it was creation that marked the beginning of the existence of man, a creature that bears the image of God. Genesis 1:27;
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
The scripture above explains why God was delighted in handing over to man, the dominion of the world. It’s simply because he (man) is a bearer of the image of God. So God gave him everything. Let’s take a look at Genesis 1:28;
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
It is crystal from the scripture above that it was the will of God for man to have dominion over the earth and the air. A careful look at the words “earth and air” implies total dominion over the cosmos. Meaning man can go towards any length in the cosmos as far as his wisdom can take him. So while man celebrates his breakthroughs in rocket science, astronomy and the like, it was not a thing of marvel before God because He had declared it already in the beginning. The point here is that, the most High gave it all to the bearer of His image –man.
While being caught up in a misty cloud of deep wonder, the Psalmist gave the expression:
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
The words spoken by the Psalmists can be summed up as God, what’s so special about man? An answer has been presented to this question above. Man is special because he is a bearer of the image of God. He is so special that God gave him dominion over the cosmos. This “specialness” of man is of priority to God such that upon the derail of the first man (Adam) and his progenitors, God had to send His only begotten son “Jesus Christ” to place them back on track. See John 3:16;
“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.”
Apparently the key to getting back on track is to simply believe in the only begotten of God. To believe Him as the one sent to restore man. To believe Him as the savior of the world.
The world is ours. God gave it all. Apostle Paul knew this, his words to the Corinthians was: all things are yours. See 1 Corinthians 3:21-22;
21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours”¦”
We can see in verse 22 of the scriptures above that even the world is ours. God gave it all. He did at the very beginning of creation.
Nevertheless, many are ignorant of this reality. The reality that God has given man all things. So here is the problem, many have upheld the things of this world more than the creator of the world. In other words, they have given honour to the gift rather than the giver of the gift. It’s like lusting after what you own. It’s yours already so why lust after it. In the light of the foregoing, John the beloved instructed us not to love the world or the things contained in it. See 1 John 2:15;
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
The use of the word “love” in the scripture above could imply “lust coupled with a strong attachment”. So the instruction is that we should not lust or attach our minds to this world or the things contained in it. Why? Because all things belong to us. The world and all its elements should not be given priority over its creator. Apparently what makes us lovers of God rather than lovers of the world is in detaching ourselves from lusting after the world and things contained in it. Anyone who has detached from the world and the things contained in it is attached to God.
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