I must confess that I’ve been held back for most of my life by a low opinion of myself — Oh, not based on facts, but on feelings.

This came in part from being raised in a major denominational religion that emphasized guilt and shame. I was a target rich environment.

I’m convinced that we rise no higher than our understanding of who we are. Yet, no issue is more divisive, controversial and yet more critically important to our view of ourselves than the nature and origin of human beings.

Are humans simply an extension of the animal kingdom or are we another species altogether?

Dinesh D’Souza put this dilemma this way in his book, What’s So Great About Christianity:

“The Reverend Randy Alcorn, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries in Oregon, sometimes presents his audiences with two creation stories and asks them whether it matters which one is true. In the secular account, ‘You are the descendant of a tiny cell of primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3½ billion years ago. You are the blind and arbitrary product of time, chance and natural forces. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of genetic substances. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You are a purely biological entity, different only in degree but not in kind from a microbe, virus or amoeba. You have no essence beyond your body, and at death you will cease to exist entirely. In short you came from nothing and are going nowhere.’”

This is the prevailing view of Western cultures today and is what our children are being taught in school as a rule.

Can you imagine the psychospiritual effect on sensitive adults or children who have been marinated in a worldview that stipulates that existentially, “You came from nothing and are going nowhere?”

Fortunately, however, Alcorn continued his comparison:

“In the Christian view by contrast, ‘You are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God. You are created in His image, with capacities to think, feel and worship that set you above all other life forms. You differ from the animals not simply in degree but in kind. Not only is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and affection that He has a perfect plan for your life. In addition, God gave the life of His only son that you might spend eternity with Him. If you are willing to accept the gift of salvation, you can become a child of God.’”

Who/What Am I?

According to Ephesians 1:3-6:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself …”

According to the late Christian philosopher Dallas Willard, “I am a never-ceasing (eternal) spiritual being — essentially creative will packaged temporarily in a human body.”

Where Did I Come From?

I come from the mind of the triune God. I am created in His image (for intimate relationship with Him) and in His likeness (similarity of character).

We humans are the crowning achievement of God’s creative plan.

Why Am I Here?

To glorify God. To join Him as family members and partners in the loving fellowship of those taking part in “a tremendously creative project, under unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast scale, with ever increasing cycles of fruitfulness and enjoyment,” as Willard put it.

Where Am I Going?

To be with God in His Kingdom forever IF we choose wisely.

That brings us to the most critical question of all: Whose am I? That is, who do I belong to? To my spiritual birth-parent Adam, or to my new family Head via spiritual rebirth, Jesus Christ.

The stakes are high here, as written in 1 Corinthians 15:21-23:

“For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

Where He Is, I Will Be … Always

Where He is, I will be … always.

How will I get there? According to John 14:3-6:

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be … I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

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