Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

Beautiful Creation: Divine Image and Expectations

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy (Genesis 2:3)

Adam from Adamah (Hebrew name for earth) is the most significant creation of Lord. Man was created
from dust with life given from the breath of God, the active and self-existent Yahweh. The distinguished creation by virtue of being breathed life from God received elevated status, slice of divinity and added responsibility towards other lives around. Human race, the image of omnipotent Lord is expected to treat the aspects of work, rest and protecting ecosystem with good judgment. The expectation of Lord from His image can be stated in an acronym WRAP.
W = Work, R = Rest, A = Abide, P = Preserve. Now lets us delve on each attribute in WRAP.
Work: Jehovah is and should be our role model when it comes to work. The quality of Lord’s work is
stated well in Ecclesiastes 3:14 “nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it”. This is the same
expected from His image, the work is we being entrusted; we are asked do with sincerity, perfection and
with our 100%. Apostle Paul exemplified work by being a tent maker while serving Church. The
importance of work is such that, Apostle Paul gives the ruling in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “The one who is
unwilling to work shall not eat.” Almighty Lord himself worked hard for straight six days; it is the same
level of hard work expected from His noble creation, the humans. We must embrace work and give it the best of our best. Work is a blessing and we are expected to work hand-in-hand with God to accomplish His wish. Work also has an important attribute which is service so it is paramount to uphold the element of purity.
Rest: If work is a blessing then rest is also an important blessing which we cannot forsake or ignore.
Don’t look anywhere when in doubt, being the image of Almighty we must understand what Lord did.
After six days of work, God rested which is the very basis of “Sabbath” which means in Hebrew the day
of rest. Does this mean Lord arbitrarily chose to rest on seventh day? No, look at Genesis 2:2 “By the
seventh day God has finished the work”. This is teaching us an important aspect, to be in-charge of what we do and execute them in a timely manner and take it to appropriate completion. We humans and
Christian in particular are asked to manage our work and add to the holiness of rest for body and soul.
This is the essence in Ecclesiastes 5:12. "The sleep of the laborer is sweet”.
Abide: This expectation is bi-directional. We pray and request to the Almighty to abide with us which
also sets an expectation to have abiding relationship with God. It is also expected from us to
accommodate, be tolerant and strengthen one another in prayer.
Preserve: We can only preserve what Lord the creator has sustained. We are asked to preserve the virtuesand values for fellow beings and generations. That is what God commanded to Adam when he took him
to “Eden” which means delight. In Genesis 2:15 Lord asks Adam “to work it and take care of it”. So it is
our responsibility to work and take care of fellow creations with judgment.

Prayer: Heavenly father help us to give our best faithfully where ever you have placed us. Nourish ourbody and souls. Help us to be good custodians of life around us.
Thought for the Day: Is our life aligned with the status of being image of Lord?  

Monish K. John, Chicago Mar Thoma Church
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