In the rush of life, it’s easy to forget the life-shaping importance of the most basic facts about ourselves. One of the first truths the Bible reveals about us is the stuff we’re made of—dirt. But this dirt was dignified by the inbreathing of God. This combination, dirt and the inbreathing of God, produced a living being (Gen. 2:7). And the pattern for this living being was God himself. We—dirt into which God breathed life—are made in God’s likeness (Gen. 1:26-27).
The dirt part of us made us able to relate to the earth. The God-inbreathing part of us made us able to relate to God. (Yes, sin stripped us of the ability to relate to God, but that capacity has been restored in Christ.)
The question for each of us comes down to this: Which part of my being is going to shape the way I think and speak and live? Because I am partly dirt, I can relate to things. Because I am made in God’s likeness, I can relate to him and to other persons.
What kind of a container will I be? Will I live as a dirtbag? Or will I live as a temple? Will I allow my mind and heart to be filled with temporary, earthly things? Or with God’s eternal Holy Spirit?
To live as a dirtbag takes no special effort at all. If I just follow my natural appetites and feelings, the dirt part of me—like gravity—will automatically pull me down. But to live as a temple takes the conscious and constant use of greater power—like jet engines keeping a plane in the air. Jesus, Paul, the author of Hebrews and Peter all urge us to “make every effort” to develop our lives that God-ward direction (Lk, 13:24; Rom. 14:19; Eph. 4:3; Heb. 4:11; 12:14; II Pet. 1:5, 15; 3:14).
Paul put it like this: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12-13).
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