Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Good News to All
Genesis 1:24-31
Vs. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
God’s first words to man are true. They are not a curse; they have no innuendo of condescension or condemnation. They show that we are his ultimate creation and that he is leaving us in charge; they empower and give authority.  And they are words of blessing. In these words we get a glimpse of God’s heart for man. God gives man a “hope and a future.” He is for man and not against him. He wants to give us more than we are able to receive. His attitude toward us is that of abundant blessing.
 He created us in his image. Before we were blessed, while he created us, he made us in his image. We are made with His understanding and His love. Why do you think he created us that way? -So that we could be blessed and be fruitful to create more in His image. So that whatever he created can be ruled and be empowered by his ultimate creation, whom He made in His image.
 His words offer us instructions and guidance. First he says, “Be fruitful”, and secondly to “rule” over the rest of His creation. When God blesses, he gives authority where there was no authority and grace where there was an absence of grace. God’s blessing imparts to us something that is in God and only in God. God’s blessing means we receive by grace and not by works. Clearly we do not have to earn God’s grace––it is given to us. Without these gracious words man remains incomplete and without purpose. And why has he blessed us and given us this extraordinary grace? It is not merely for our own benefit, it is so we can be a blessing to all of creation.
 Can we empower and take charge to keep this earth and its beings as beautiful as he wants it to be?
PRAYER
Thank you Lord for creating us in Your image and blessing us  from the very beginning you breathed life into us . Help us to be a blessing to all your creation. Amen
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Let’s be the blessed creation, he first made us to be.
Noble Philip, St. John's MTC, NY
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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