God Owns You And You Owe Him ( 1)
Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha- Otor Delta State. www. ibrucentre. org
DIVINE and natural endowments are indebtedness to God’s investment. The human body is a channel for spiritual outflow in the human realm. God has always longed to dwell in man and with man. When an individual is naturally or spiritually endowed, he or she is obligated to God and man. Human or divine endowments are not of self- doing, personal efforts, or parental efforts, but God's endowments on man. In life, our personalities differ from one to the other. Some are born intelligent, beautiful, outstanding, outspoken, very skilful, bold and blessed, while others are not. Sometimes human deformation could be naturally, environmentally or genetically propelled or as a result of medical or scientific error: they are never of the child’s making.
Life is privilege thrust upon man. Who we are and what we are, are opportunities for service to humanity. Some people are born great, others have greatness placed upon them either ways the man is indebted to give back what he has received from God to God.
As against scientific and modern assertion ‘ man’ is a creation of God; either science or religion believed this by faith. Not everything in life has been scientifically proven; certain facts of life are beyond the comprehension of science. Facts and faith are both products of man’s knowledge by experience. They both about perception.
At creation, God created man and breath into him ‘ the breath of life’ – the beginning of life. The breath of the Almighty made man a living being. The Igbo word ‘ Umendu’ meaning ‘ breath of life’ and ‘ Nmadu’ meaning ‘ man or human’, reveal the truth and are ever green. The first word ‘ Umendu’ is a compound word: ‘ Ume’--- meaning breath and ‘ Ndu’ meaning life; and the second word ‘ Nmadu’ is ‘ Nma’--- meaning beauty and ‘ Ndu’ meaning life. Here you see that the ‘ Umendu’ made the man, the ‘ Nmadu.’ Man was created by God to reveal the beauty of creation. Man was created by man as the ultimate beauty of creation. The real essence of life is service. The product that made man to function is –‘ God’s breath. In Man lives the breath of life, is owned by God.
The word ‘ temple’ means shrine, a dwelling place. Our body is God’s temple. This shows that we carry a percentage of God in us and we totally belong to God. The reason the body is limited is because it has been subjected to corruption by the fall of Adam, which as a result of it placed man under bondage. The bondage of corruption is the reason we see limitations, and restriction in man.
Know This About The Body
• The body can be structured and restructured.
• The body can manifest in full potential.
• The body can also manifest in partial potential.
• The body can be externally influenced and corrupted.
• There are materials and immaterial elements that corrupts the body.
• The human senses can be conditioned to act in certain way of life.
• Life is a process and habit is a process of life.
• Both life and habit are developed within an environment. In every environment people live in colonies. These colonies define everyone’s value, which over time positively or negatively affects the total man. Lack of good environment and keeping poor company ( 1 Corinthians 15: 33- 34.) are some of the agents of corruption
Having The Knowledge Of God
What is the knowledge of God? God’s desire is to have intimacy with us; lack of this intimacy leaves us naked, empty and sick. In the men: Adam, Cain, Saul, among others, we discovered that God’s Spirit does not strive with man forever. Our connectivity with God determines our continuity and productivity on earth. No man is above divine disqualification. Heaven can discard any person irrespective of the investment heaven has made or invested on him or her. Therefore, it is important to maintain intimacy with God, irrespective of social or sacred attainment.
Knowing God must be by experience. Knowledge is deeper than facts and figures; someone would ask what do mean? Facts are subjective and figures can be manipulated by human error. Truth is objective and devoid of all forms of manipulation. God is the Ultimate Truth. He is not subject to frail or error. The servant may represent his master in all things, but will always remain a figure, symbol and a shadow. Judging a master by the erroneous representation made by the servant is a mental manipulation and an ignorant attempt to antagonise the master. The servant of God, therefore, who claims to be a representative of God is solely responsible for the errors in representation and not God.
God through the ages sent and used men, but never solely ordain a man as an ultimate vessel. Any man can be disqualified. From Adam to Abraham to Moses to the Judges, Kings and Prophets no one was above replacement. If there was a man God would have held on to ‘ forever,’ it would have been Adam. King Saul was not without anointing, but he ended up stripped of honour and glory.