After His Own Kind

Some people take labels on the surface and believe they can live up to those labels, just because they are connected in a loose and superficial way.

Take for example, this group of folks who claimed to be part of a special people. They had spent their lives collecting sayings and giving the impression of being devout followers of the special people. They were the experts in the eyes of some because of the degree of seriousness that they took their devotion. Someone had the temerity to expose them because their actual character had nothing to do with what made the people special. When they were confronted with this they only reinforced this by hounding the individual to the point of death. Even though this person personified the very characteristics that made the people so special.

What made the people so special had nothing to their with any particular physical feature or genetic quality. What made them special was a relationship they had with God. What made them special was God’s desire for this people to display to the world His character and give the world a picture of what it was to be truly human – loving God and loving each other. That was His desire through this people so that the world could be drawn back to this understanding of true humanity – based on a right relationship with their Creator.

That was the plan. As is the wont of people, though, they were keen to protect their own reputations and establish a sense of self-righteousness that went against the very character God was looking for through this relationship.

All God ever looked for was humanity that acknowledged that being made in His image required a degree of recognising they were made to be of His kind and look to Him to how they were to be in the light of this. Especially to see how liberating and enriching this would be in comparison to pursuing their own route to existing which only leads to despair and death.

Deceit and death are the hallmarks of the evil one. To see it pronounced in people is to see what kind they belong to. The Father is keen to express those who are His children by faith in His Son and see how He embodies what it really is to be truly human.

Exploring this helps us to enjoy what it really is to be His children – those of His kind.

(Photo by David Wirzba on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden