Our Bible verse for today: “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 (CSB)
Our thought today: “Your life matters because you have the breath of God and the Spirit of God within you.”
The Hebrew words used to form the phrase “living being” found in Genesis 2:7 are “nephesh hayah”, often translated “living being”, sometimes translated “living soul”. Either way, the truth being expressed by that phrase is that this “living being” is alive with the breath of God within him. The “breath of life” came out of God, entered into the man, and the man then became a living being, alive with the breath of God within him.
That was true of Adam, the first created human being in the Garden of Eden, and it has been true of every human being since then. God created your physical body and then He breathed the breath of life into you and you became “a living being”, a “nephesh hayah”.
But beyond the mere presence of the breath of God within your physical body, as a Christian you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart. This is the wonderful but mysterious truth Paul so vividly described for us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.”
On the cross Jesus purchased both your eternal soul and your physical body, at the cost of His own life. He bought you so that you would one day be a walking, talking, mobile temple of His Holy Spirit. His Spirit would live in you, transform you into the man or woman God wants you to be, and the Holy Spirit would work through you, using your life (your words and actions), to further the cause of Christ on earth. On the cross Jesus purchased you for this very reason.
As a human being you have the breath of God giving life to your physical body. As a Christian you have the Holy Spirit living in you and working through you. That being the case, how in the world could your life not matter? You, the highest form of God’s creation with the very breath of God animating your physical body; you, a follower of Christ with His Holy Spirit living in your heart and blessing the world through you; how could such a life not matter?
As we conclude our month-long study of the theme “Your Life Matters”, the thought I want to leave you with is that your life matters because you have the breath of God and the Spirit of God within you. Nothing could make you more valuable than that.
Oak Hill Baptist Church