Praying & Planning
People are God’s priority. In Genesis 1:27, we find that people are the only part of creation that is created in God’s image, made specifically for fellowship with Him. When the fall happens in Genesis 3, God declares that He will provide a means to restore the relationship between Himself and people. The rest of the Bible is the story of how God redeems people through the blood of Jesus, and how He plans for our eternal future with Him.
In the Bible, God demonstrates that people are His priority in how He pursues us with His love, and how He works through us to pursue others for His kingdom.
Romans 5:8 reminds us that God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die for us while we were still sinners. God highlights this relationship in Romans 8 by telling us that He sends His Spirit to dwell in those who are restored to fellowship through the blood of Jesus, sealing our salvation, having our consciences renewed, and giving us the inheritance as “fellow heirs” with Christ. No other part of His creation is granted such a blessing.
God also shows his priority for people by choosing to work through us to share the message of redemption with others. Even as God used people in Nehemiah’s day to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, He chooses to use us as messengers of Good News to a world that is lost and dying in sin.
Prayer/Challenge
Father, help us to share your priority for people by seeing their need for you and following your leadership to share the Gospel. Make us sensitive so we may see them as created in your image.
