Day 1. The Origination

Tom Marxen The Origination 18 October 2023 Hits: 43

Week 1 – The Origination

You originated in the mind of God

Day 1 - Before you were born, He thought of you.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." ESV

What is true of the prophet Jeremiah is true for you; you are consecrated – set aside for a particular divine and eternal purpose.

Redemption ( i.e. Buying you back from bondage) is birthed out of the original value placed upon your life. The cost of redemption reflects the value YHWH has originally placed on your life.

Jesus Culture – “He is Faithful” - Lyrics

He has paid the highest price

He has proven His great love for us

We will praise Him with our lives

And proclaim our love for Him

He is faithful! He is Jesus and all my hope is in Him!

“The Mirror Bible” – page 6 by Francois du Toit

“Every invention begins with an original thought. You are God’s original thought. You are his initiative, the fruit of his inspiration, his intimate design and love-dream.

The first Hebrew word in the Bible, bereshet, from berosh, literally means “ in the head.” God had you in mind from the beginning.

You are his work of art; his poem, says Paul in the Greek text of Ephesians 2:10.(We are his workmanship (poiema))

Every human life is equally valued and represented in Christ. He is the mirror and perfect reflection of our purpose in creation. He is not only an example for us, but of us. The ugly duckling saw reflected in the water the truth that freed the swan.”

Psalm 23 says “He leads me beside still waters, and restores my soul” or “by the waters of reflection my soul remembers who I am”.

Psalm 22:27 says “The ends of the earth shall remember and return to the Lord.”

Ephesians 2:1-10. We are God’s workmanship (Greek word – “poiema” – from which we get the word poem and poetry). This defines our value and our destination. The word translated as “workmanship” includes the idea of artwork, beauty and passion. We are not widgets stamped out on an assembly line but precious, unique and valuable expressions of our Great Designer. We are intrinsically valuable to Him. His design is our purpose. In the Genesis, all of Creation was called “good”, but the creation of man, His last and greatest achievement is called “very good”. We are the pinnacle of His creative thought and process and we are created to fully express the Love of God from which we were generated.

The universe is saturated with the thoughts of God yet we struggle to find Him. He hides Himself in the open. He longingly desires us to pursue Him. He says,” When you seek me with your whole heart, you will find me …” (Isaiah 55:6-9). This is the language of love. When God asked the question, “Adam, where are you?”(Genesis 3:9), it came from the anguished loss of relationship not the angry accusation of a punishing God. Within the curses brought on by Adam’s disobedience reside the mercy motivated beginnings of how God would restore relationship with mankind and fulfill His original dream to make us in His own image (Genesis 3:15). This passion, the driving compassion to give on behalf of our good and the expense of our restoration is an important aspect of God that cannot be minimized or overlooked.

Isaiah 55:8-11

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. ESV

Discussion Questions:

Day 1 - Before you were born, He thought of you.