First you were created in God's image. Second, you are a child of God. Third, you are created in a new image. Fourth, you are a coheir with Christ. And Fifth, God created you to do good works for Him.
In the beginning God said, "Let's make mankind in our own image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Genesis 1:26). The question stands, "Who are entailed in the "' OUR'"? God spoke not to create you in just His image but in the likeness of Himself, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. God describes Himself as spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). When we are in the Lord; we are one with His spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, are all holy, righteous, pure, gracious, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, loving, wise, powerful, all knowing, and holding Lordship. We are created to possess the spirits of God in His likeness. All that God is; we were created to be like Him. Our Lordship is be over the land and animals, while God's Lordship is over the entire universe and all His creation being the Godhead. We are given intelligence over all other creations of the earth. Any added wisdom that we desire is to be asked from God (James 1:5). Conformation to all the qualities of God is to be like Him in spirit.
Because you were created by God; you are His. It doesn't matter if you choose to believe in God's existence or not; you are His. Without God, you could not exist. Without God, nothing could exist. Therefore, everything that God created belongs to Him. You, the angels, the animals, the sun, moon, stars, trees, water, materials, minerals, electricity, and all that there is, is created by God, and belongs to Him. He has all rights to creating, and destroying all that is His. He created people knowing which person would love Him, and which person would reject Him, but because of His love for all; He created us anyway. It is God's desire to bless all that He has created for eternity; however, it is not possible for God to continuously bless all His creation, due to rejection. A person that denies, mocks, curse, neglects, ignores, or disbelieves God is still created in His likeness by His spirit. Just as a child is born of its parents, and then grows to reject its parents; the behavior will not make that child less of their flesh and blood. The child is still loved, but rejects being loved. The child can deny its parents, but DNA will always confirm that that child came from his or her parent. If you knew beforehand that a child would deny you before it was born; would you still give it life? Maybe or maybe not. Yet, God loves all of us that He still gave us life though some of us would reject Him. We are all His children; whether we reject Him or not. Even if we choose to accept the enemy as our illegitimate parent.
In addition to being created in His spirit of likeness; you become a new creation when you accept God as Lord in your life. We are born of man, and being born of man, we come with qualities that are imperfect; although, we are made in the likeness of God. We have a nature that naturally draws itself to things that are carnal, worldly, or wrong for us; although, we are capable of right living. Just as Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, and then made the decision to walk in rebellion due to curiosity, greed, self-sufficiency, and lust; we too can be lead astray by our own will. When we fully accept God into our lives; we make the decision to purposely follow after God's own heart, while sacrificing our own desires to live outside of His perfect will. No matter how much we may want to live our own way; we make the conscious, and committed decision to refuse our own way, while following after God's design for us, to be like Him. This decision to do so is called being; born again. Renewing our minds is the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are reborn through our spirits, not of our bodies; therefore, we are created into a new creation, spiritually.
For this reason, we become coheirs with Christ. We obtain the promises of eternal life, and eternal possessions by being born again. We are given the promise that we will one day be given a new earth, with the old earth being wiped away, after the Great Tribulation (a time when Satan will be given powers to rule the earth for a short while after all believers are caught up with Jesus Christ in the sky to go to Heaven). On the new earth, God will dwell not in Heaven, but in fact, on earth with us. We will be given our crowns of eternal life, as well as our own throne, and responsibilities of ruler ship. This was God's original plan for us before the fall of Adam. We were to live our lives as immortals, rulers, never knowing the difference between good and evil. Fortunately, through God's grace, believers will be given that opportunity again, due to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which wipes our sins away, after the acceptance of Him as our Savior, with the renewing of our minds.
At the same time, while we await those promises which will come after our life here on earth; we are to do good works for God. Believers are to live their lives as an example of Jesus Christ to nonbelievers. They are to study, know, and live the word in truth, with prayer, praise, and worship towards God, and fellowship with other believers to keep one another encouraged, while sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, that others will be made into new creations, by accepting Jesus as their Savior, renewing their minds, by following after righteousness, having all their sins forgiven, to one day possess eternal life, being reinstated to their original purpose of Lordship. Everyday, believers should seek out opportunities to be Christ like and to share the gospel. Think about the person who told you about the truth of Jesus Christ, and God's original plan for us? Where would you be had they not shared the gospel with you? You would be the original person you once were, without any hope of a prosperous future. Before Christ; believers today, were blind to the truth, walking in darkness, immoral, impure, with hardened hearts. But with Christ, they are in the likeness of God's spirit: compassionate, loving, forgiving, hopeful, pure, holy, wise, righteous, merciful, leaders.
...That's who you are.
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