God, Horses And Green Slime

Our custom is to gather together at the El Paisano restaurant on Saturday mornings and have coffee, fellowship and Bible study.  One Saturday morning fellowship included a friend of ours who had come in for the holidays and was staying for a few days.  He happened to be a cowboy and a man who had spent a good deal of his life training horses, mules and donkeys.  He also was a traveler and adventurer and told a fine story.  We had several people there that were city folks, so the conversation of course moved toward the romance of the Southwest, cowboy life, and various tall tales from cowboy folklore.  Our friend was in his element, with his cowboy attire and mannerisms (including the Mexican Spurs which he wore into the restaurant) and the folks were leaning forward listening and asking questions as he was doing his thing.  

Our city friends were enthralled by the stories and the discussion soon turned to the mystic relationship that the cowboy had with his horse.  As talk turned to “the horse whisperer,” Howdy explained that the horse only thought of his owner as a food source.  As long as he had his hay and oats, he was content to stand in the corral and eat and poop.  The horse didn’t know who he was or what his purpose was (other than feeding, breeding and surviving.)  He could be an expensive and well bred horse, but until the master took him in hand and began to teach him who he was and what his purpose was, he was just another expensive hayburner in the corral.  What a profound thought.  And how much more applicable is the principal when applied to people.  How many people in the world don't know who they are or what their purpose is?  How many people who call themselves Christians don't know who God has called them to be or what they are called to do?

There was a man named Charles Darwin.  He said that man was a result of a long process in which life started long ago as some kind of primitive one-celled accident of nature (I call it green slime) and through millions of years progressed through many primitive forms of life, became a monkey, and ultimately evolved into humans as we now know them.  My thought is that if you think you came from the primordial ooze, it’s very easy to act accordingly.  How many folks do you know who act like slime or monkeys (don’t raise your hand.)

We all know the creation story as told in Genesis.  God began to speak and the universe came into being.  The light came forth. Animals, fish, plant life came into existence.  When each thing was created God declared, “it is good.”  In Genesis 1 26 we look in on a unique conversation where God is evidently speaking to God.  He says, “let us make man in our image and in our likeness let us make them.”  Then God formed Adam from the reddish clay and breathed his spirit into Adams nostrils and Adam became a living being who was created in the likeness of God.  God said this is good, good, good which is the Hebrew way of saying it's the best it can be. It’s the very best!  Adam was (and is) God’s crowning achievement in the entire creation of the universe and all the details thereof.

God gave Adam an assignment.  He commanded Adam to rule the earth (take dominion over the entire earth) and populate the earth.  We also notice that God commanded Adam to name the animals.  In this we see that Adam indeed had some of Gods attributes.  Think about it.  If God commanded Adam to name all of the animals  that might include more than 100,000 animals.  Adam would need to have an immense intellect in order to properly name all these animals with names that matched their characteristics.  In the Hebrew language even the letters in the words had meaning.  They were pictures that completed the meaning of the word and the names that Adam created were not only names, but, accurate descriptions for each animal.  Consider also that God included Adam in the creation process by having him name these animals.  So Adam indeed had the intellect and the creativity of God.

When we consider that Adam was created to have fellowship with God we see more of the value that God placed on Adam.  Adam was not some “green slime” that evolved out of a prehistoric swamp.  In the same way, Adams descendents are not some accident of nature.  They have been “created in the image of God.”   They don’t need to act like ooze or monkeys anymore because they have been created by God to be His sons.   There is a wedding feast scheduled soon.  The spotless bride that Jesus died to redeem to Himself is being revealed.  The Master is extending His bridle to each of us.  As we lower our head and accept His Lordship into every area of our life, the Master will reveal, teach, discipline, and form each of us into that glorious and eternal Bride of Christ.