Perhaps you’re in the market for a toilet with a heated seat, flushing, and “dynamic” lighting you can all control by voice. These are just some of the innovations being premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show, which begins tomorrow in Las Vegas.
She tells the children: “I feel like if I am forced to create life, I have lost the right to my own life. I should be the one to decide if my body creates a life.”
When Eve delivered her firstborn son, she testified, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1). When her first son killed her second son and Eve gave birth to a third, she said of him, “God has appointed for me another offspring” (v. 25).
The next chapter states: “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created” (Genesis 5:1-2).
Note that Scripture describes humans in this way even after the Fall. Even after our disobedience in the Garden of Eden and our murderous sins against each other. According to the Bible, every human is a person of inestimable worth because each human is created on purpose for a purpose.
Imagine a society in which everyone agreed with God’s word.
Valuing people as God does would change every dimension of life today. But to love people as God does means that we must also love ourselves as God does.
“Strong emotions, self-rejection, and even self-hatred justifiably toss you about, but you are free to respond as you will. You are not what others, or even you, think about yourself. You are not what you do. You are not what you have. You are a full member of the human family, having been known before you were conceived and molded in your mother’s womb.
“In times when you feel bad about yourself, try to choose to remain true to the truth of who you really are. Look in the mirror each day and claim your true identity. Act ahead of your feelings and trust that one day your feelings will match your convictions. Choose now and continue to choose this incredible truth. As a spiritual practice claim and reclaim your primal identity as [the] beloved daughter or son of a personal Creator.”
“Stew” that cannot feed our souls
Why do you need to “reclaim your primal identity”?
Temptation invites us to become less than we are, trading our birthright as God’s beloved children for “stew” that cannot feed our souls (cf. Genesis 25:29-34). Guilt over the past deafens us to God’s invitation to forgiveness and freedom. Fear of the future discounts our Father’s providential care for his own.
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Jim Denison, Ph.D., speaks and writes on cultural and contemporary issues. He is a trusted author and subject matter expert in areas where faith and current events intersect. His Daily Article provides leading insight for discerning today’s news from a biblical perspective.