Living Being - What it means to be human

In the beginning, God breathed on man and man became a living being.

What does it mean to become a living being?

When God formed Adam, he did so out of the dust of the ground. He made him from the earth. Man was a part of the Earth’s ecosystem. Man was made with every element of the earth. Every mineral and every fiber connected to creation, and yet, man remained lifeless. Even after God fashioned man with his own hands, his work of creation was not complete. The Father wanted to make man distinct from all of creation, so he went face-to-face with man and breathed his very life into him, forever setting man apart from all of his masterful creations. Man was made to walk with God.

The only assignment man had was to walk with God and tend to everything that was alive around him. He was meant to oversee all of God’s beautiful works. He wasn’t made to conquer, for there was nothing to conquer. He wasn’t meant to be Lord of all because everything lived in symbiotic harmony. Man was created to walk with God and remind all of creation that the light of God is now the life of men.

As the story of creation continues, man had been given all access, all authority, and all dominion. But along the way, man began to buy the lie that there was more to gain. There was something being hidden from him, something he didn’t have access to, but something he must obtain. The introduction of the self-life (dims the soul) was seducing what was already perfect. The seduction was real enough to cause man to listen to the whisper of the accuser that was planting the seed of separation from God. When man ate of this fruit, the illusion of separation took root, the self-life was alive, and sin distorted man’s true identity. At this critical point of deception, man was the shadow of the false self over the light of true life. Man was in danger of losing its soul.

The soul isn’t just an eternal journeyman. The soul is the merging point of the spirit and the body. The soul is what makes you human. It’s the inner man, the essence of your life, and the energy of God in the earth. The soul is the seedbed of all life and authenticity. It’s the place where decisions create desires and desires influence decisions. The soul is where we measure the fruit of His Spirit or recognize the control of our selfish pursuits. With each longing comes a new seed that takes root and produces that which it came from. In the revelation of Christ, we are invited to move away from the self-life, to empty ourselves and return to our true nature, which is in the image of God. Jesus is the perfect image of what was an invisible God. He is the embodiment of perfect love, taking upon himself the lie of sin and separation. The veil has been torn. The lie has been made known, and perfect love was made on full display in the suffering of our Savior. You were made to be light, and this is a world with no shadows!

And now, through the resurrection, you are invited to share in his life the same way that Thomas was invited by touching the living wounds of Jesus. This is the way of a soul transformation. Each time you touch his wounds, he comes to you in your suffering so you can partner with him in his glory. This is the gate to our Christification.

Through the exchange of the soul, we empty everything of ourselves, so we can fully become ourselves.

Today, we don’t have separation, we have union. We don’t live under the shadow of the law, we live in the light of liberty. But every day we must make the decision to make his life clearly seen in his creation. This is what it means to take dominion. It’s a family in a garden learning to govern without an accuser. The result of this makes dominion more about tending to a garden rather than protecting your own interests.

This isn’t a war, this is worship!

This isn’t an eternal issue, this is a human one. We were not meant to just live in the days to come, but the one we are in. This is why fascination matters. Fascination leads to captivation, captivation moves us toward integration, and integration reveals itself by transformation.

It’s true that fascination is the key to transformation. But what if in today’s world we still face the same temptation as Adam? What if our soul is still under the tension of what we are and what we desire? What if we have become fascinated with the distraction of information instead of the purity of infinite beauty? I am not against technology or information. But what if those subtle influences have made us fascinated with the illusion and not the truth? What if the hours of social media and information-seeking have blinded us to the true beauty of a rich and meaningful life? Have we traded our devotion for doom scrolling? Are we in danger of losing our own soul?Do we live in an Information Age that makes our knowledge meaningless because our authenticity is being lost?

There seems to be a parallel that the more we engage in the spider web of information that also has the temptation to engage with the Father in the same way. Information and the learned response will cause you to have “manufactured encounters” instead of the “supernatural ones” that change the way you live. The early church didn’t have as much information about Jesus as much as they had experience with His Spirit that resonated deep within their soul. They preached Jesus and revealed him in the scriptures instead of preaching the scriptures in hopes that he would be seen.

The temptation today is that we hear more, we know more, and we have an abundance of resources, and yet we are weakened in one area, the authenticity of our soul. There can be a gap between our knowledge and our authenticity. This is what it means to lose your soul. It’s not a fearful torment of your eternal future. It’s not an indicator that you are lost. It’s a warning of the salt losing its savor and the light being hidden under a basket. As followers of the Way, we must divorce ourselves from anything that weakens the soul and marry ourselves to the One our soul longs for. This is the way to life and life abundantly.

You are not made to be generic; you are made to be authentic. Unique, creative, and radiant. Never buy the lie that you are broken, separated, or abandoned. You are loved to the point of his own death. The beginning point of all that is beautiful is seen in the perfect love of the cross. You are not in the shadows of confusion anymore. You are light. You are a city set upon a hill that is not hidden. Could it be that in the same way Jesus said, “when you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father,” that we too could say, “when you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Christ?” Paul seemed to think so when he said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. This isn’t a good idea, nor is it fashionable. This is the call to a soul transformation. The kind that could never be denied and never extinguished. The same love that is in Jesus is in you. The same kindness of the Father is in you. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now in you.

Today is the day that you choose who and what you serve. Will you choose the lie of self-preservation, or will you choose to make his name famous in the earth? You were made to let love flow out of you like rivers of living water, until the knowledge of the glory covers the earth as the waters do cover the sea. You are the meeting place between heaven and earth. This is what it means to be a “living being.”

You are not just being changed, you are being transformed into what you never thought you could be, but it’s truly who you really are.

This week, you remember who you are, and you embrace being fully alive!