John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
John 10:30
“I and the Father are one.” (said by Jesus)
For those who view Jesus as a prophet, a holy man, an historical figure, but just a man, the Bible clearly tells us that He is the Word (one of his many names), who was with God, and one with God, since before the beginning of creation. The Spirit of God or Breath of God, also one with God, is the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. Hence the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit/Ghost which has always existed as one.
Mankind is distinct from all the rest of creation in that we are made in the image of God. Just as God is made up of three parts — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so man is made up of three parts — temporal body, soul (seat of the senses, desires, affections, appetites, intellect, will, emotions, conscience, etc.) and spirit (that part of us that connects, or refuses to connect, to God). As with a fellow human being, you can never completely know another until you personally connect with the physical man or woman (can recognize the person walking down the street because of how they look, their walk, etc.), and come to know the soul and spirit of the person. Those are your true friends in life, the ones you connect with on all levels (whether you agree with them all the time or not) and would trust with your deepest secret; all others are acquaintances, maybe buddies, maybe siblings or parents, lovers or spouses, but not true friends. Since we are made up of three parts, we cannot truly know ourselves, never mind anyone else, if we don’t connect with all three. So it is with God; to truly know Him and be His friend, we must connect with all of Him.
Like people throughout time have done, I made God kind of look like me, but with a beard and blue eyes, rather than hazel. Unfortunately, throughout time people have made God to be in their physical or soul likeness, and therefore anyone who doesn’t look or think like them obviously isn’t of God and should be discounted, discriminated against, or worse, obliterated from the face of earth (think ethnic cleansing – American Indian, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Chechnya, Darfur, Syria, and the Islamic State to name a few). God created us, loves us and wants relationship with us no matter what we look like, where we come from, or what we think or believe. And it is not because a single one of us is perfect, worthy or deserving.
Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
E.J. Lefavour
Good Morning Gloucester 