Genesis 2:7. then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
I believe this verse describes us as a tri-part being: body, spirit, soul.
The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground – Body.
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life – Spirit.
and the man became a living creature – Soul.
On Day 10, we explored the reality that we are embodied. Our bodies were formed by God as part of his good creation. Our bodies allow us to image God and our bodies make us who we are. To be sure, we are not less than our bodies, but we are also much more than our bodies; we are also spirit.
When God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, he was giving Adam a spirit. Literally he was giving him the power source for all of life. Every image bearing human has the breath of God in them as the source of life. And this breath of God comes from THE Breath of God, the Holy Spirit. Consider these scriptures:
Job 33:4. The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Ecclesiastes 12:7. the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Isaiah 42:5. Thus says the Lord, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
God so loved that he gave…gave us his own life right from the start. The animating force inside of us is a gift from God, formed in us by the Spirit. Our lives as humans are not just determined by a random sequence of chemical reactions in the brain. We are all guided by the very life of God that has been placed in us as the image of God.
At this point in redemptive history (Gen. 2:7), we are not talking about having the Holy Spirit indwelling us as in the New Testament. What happened at creation was that mankind was given a spirit by the Holy Spirit, a human spirit that images the divine Spirit. And just as with our bodies, the human spirit is a gift that God has given to every person who has ever lived. Spirituality is a common grace that allows all of us as humans to live in and from the goodness of God.
What this means is that everyone is spiritual, and everything we do is spiritual. Everything we do is empowered by the Spirit’s breath in us. And everything we do by the power of the human spirit is meant to bring glory to God, the life giving spirit. Simply put, everything we do is supposed to be an act of worship, done for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31. Do all to the glory of God.
Obviously we don’t. As a species, we have chosen our own glory over the glory of God. Our human spirit left behind the desire to love and serve our Creator when it was infected with the sickness of sin.
But to live from the indwelling life of Christ is to live from a new spirit. The Holy Spirit. The regenerating breath of God now coursing through your body and soul to the glory of God. Restored spirituality. Restored worship. Restored meaning. Restored life. The very Breath of God in us.
Questions: Do you see everything in life as spiritual? As worship? What might “Do all to the glory of God” look like in your life today?
To Live is Christ 