Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1:26)
In the beginning was the Word. (Jn 1:1)
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. (Jn 5:26)
Praise You, Father, for You have granted me life. I do not deserve it. I did not create it. You have made me and sustained me. You have saved me from death many times, and I am grateful to You and to You alone for the precious gift of life.
Something has always existed. To say otherwise forces the absurd notion that something popped out of nothing. Scripture says God is that something. God is self-existent. You and I are not. God exists on His own, quite apart from the universe and from you and me. God does not need us; He does not need the universe. He is and He always has been. The concept of a being who had no beginning is incomprehensible to us. Everything we see began somewhere; thus, in God, we come up against a Being to which nothing compares. In this area He is not like a watch or a house or a father or the hills or the stars. He is not like an idea or electricity or an emotion or anything else we know. All those things have beginnings and require a source or a medium. God simply is. He is the “I AM.” He is the source. Take Him away and you take away all possibilities of existence. In the beginning the Word was. He already existed when the universe began, and it owes its existence to Him. God has life in Himself (Jn 5:26); no one can give it to Him, no one can take it from Him. He is the Uncreated Creator of all. He has had no beginning, and everything that has had a beginning owes its beginning to Him. Our heart beats because God allows it to, and when our heart ceases to beat, we have no right to demand otherwise. Those decisions are not ours to make. Life is not ours to hand out. Have mercy, O God.
This places us in a particular position before God. We are but creatures and must remember that fact. The rocking chair does not get arrogant before the woodworker; the pot does not talk back to the potter. Rebellion against God is a lapse of memory. We somehow forget that He is the artist and we are the painting. But the analogy breaks down, for the artist had a beginning. When we subconsciously act as if we are the center of the universe, we creatures put ourselves in the position of the Self-existent one. The notion that the world revolves around us lies behind all sin. We subliminally claim for ourselves a throne we have no right to claim. Life comes from God. He gave it to you. He can take it any time He wishes, and when He does so, He will be just. It is His life, not yours. He simply lets you use it. So use it for Him.
