What a blessing it is to be able to refer to the Creator of All Things, the Lord God Almighty, as our “Father.” We pray to our Heavenly Father frequently without realizing the enormity of that relationship. How blessed we Christians are. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him], that we may also be glorified together.” – Romans 8:16-17
Until a little over one-hundred years ago, houses were not built with electrical wiring or wiring for the telephone. Now, homes include wiring for electricity, telephone, cable television and security systems. In modern parlance they are “hardwired” for these utilities. In a metaphoric manner, we Christians are “hardwired” with characteristics from our Heavenly Father and His Son. “We shall also bear the image of the heavenly [Man].” – First Corinthians 15:49
God is love. (First John 4:8) Humans love people and things, sometimes inexplicably. This characteristic is even found in the animal world where mothers will die to protect their offspring. But the love Christians can have goes far beyond maternal instincts. We are made in our Father’s image. We are “hardwired” to love.
God is the Creator. “I [am] the LORD, who makes all [things].” (Isaiah 44:24) Humans are creative, just like our Father. I realized this watching my grandchildren play. Building blocks are used to create houses or forts or towers. Paper and crayons are used to create drawings of the world as children see it. Children are creative. They are made in their Heavenly Father’s image. We are “hardwired” to be creative.
For man, the natural result of increased wealth is to seek a bigger and/or better house. No matter what culture they live in, the wealthiest people generally have the largest and nicest homes. Instinctively, we all are seeking that better place to live. Christians know there is a better place. “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly [country]. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:16) We are “hardwired” to seek that better place.
When Adam was created, he was in the image of his Heavenly Father and probably had the full use of his mind, as compared to the estimated 7%-9% that we use today. The Lord brought all the animals before Adam to see what he would name them. (Genesis 2:19) Although not stated, I suspect that Adam could communicate with the animals in some manner. This may explain how Eve could have a conversation with a snake. Today, many of us would love to communicate with the animals. It seems there is a deficiency in our abilities. Perhaps we did have it, but lost it at the Fall of Man. Perhaps we are “hardwired” to communicate with the Creation of God.
Death is the enemy. (First Corinthians 15:26) We are saddened by death. Even the death of someone that we do not personally know saddens us. The death of a young person is particularly tragic to us. This is because we are not supposed to die. Adam and Eve, and their offspring, would not have died if they had not eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Genesis 2:17) We are “hardwired” to live forever. We are in the image of our Heavenly Father.
It is said that we do not have a Spirit; we are a Spirit and we have a body. The Apostle Paul summarized this so well; “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,” (Second Corinthians 4:7) Another version says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay.” Our bodies made of the dust of this earth, or made of clay, contain the real treasure, our Spirit. This Spirit was created to live forever, in the image of our Father.
Praise the Lord that He has made provision for us to live forever with Him in that better place that we all seek. Praise the Lord for Jesus, our only real Hope; the Hope of Eternal Salvation. May His name always be praised!