All of these aspects of life are integral to our being made in the image of God.
In our CONSCIENCE we are provided by God with an ability to know what is right or feel guilt and shame for wrong doing. It’s not that we can’t brainwash ourselves into thinking good is bad and bad is good, but given the standards established by God the Bible offers many divine tips on what makes a morally right decisions. In this example when the Apostle Paul was speaking in his own defense in a Roman court:
I have hope in God, which [Paul’s accusers] themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 16 This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. – Acts 24:1-16
What Paul is saying is, with respect to the judgment of all people in the heavenly court, we should live our lives in good conscience, to strive to not do wrong to others and not to sin against God. All people are made in the image of God and have innate value given to them by God, regardless of each of our unregenerate (sinful) attitudes towards God and His law. God is just and will judge each and every one for their lawlessness.
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TRUTH is objective and it extends from God Himself. Because humans are made with a spiritual void that yearns to be filled, people inherently are seeking the Truth and all sorts of things and ideas become the surrogate for the real truth. The Truth, or what is true for people often becomes what each person chooses to worship. What you take greatest satisfaction in life often points to what you believe is true and also right.
Here are a couple of passages about God’s Truth:
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. -John 1:17
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:32
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JUSTICE is another value we groan for. Everyone has a reaction to evil: “bad” should not victor over “good”. Those who break the moral law and in doing so, hurt others, the crime generates a deep desire for justice to be served so that the evil perpetrators get their due punishment. Even if someone hurts others while ignorant of the law, their act is not defensible. Perversions of the law has a chain reaction effect where innocent people can no longer achieve worldly justice. Judges and leaders are held to a higher standard. Again, God is the just judge who will have the final say.
You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. – Deuteronomy 16:19
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BEAUTY is something that attracts the senses in a positive way. When we are young we revel in physical beauty but as we get older we wisely develop the sensibility to see beauty in character.
Oddly enough, a dialogue in Destination Tokyo, a WWII submarine movie, Cary Grant, who plays the submarine’s skipper, talks about how he loves his wife’s voice and what she says. I think that is not such a bad alternative for a young man to focus on aside from the physical beauty of a young woman. What she says will reveal many other beautiful things like wisdom, kindness, mercy and forgiveness, those qualities that are evoked from ones heart. In the New Testament is stated:
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. – Matthew 12:34
Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. – 1 Peter 3:3-4
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ETERNITY is native to the character of God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, goodness without end. We are made in the image of God and are always connected to the reality of eternity. The earth and the stars give us a sense of God’s eternal nature though God exceeds earth and heaven.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.– Psalm 9:1
Though we face the reality of death, we are still created in God’s image and we still have a sense of a reality without end. I think sometimes we get glimpses of that reality and it only comes in brief lucid moments in our earthly lives. We are constantly encumbered with our sinful flesh that blocks our fullness in the spirit while we live in the limitations of time and space.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end – Ecclesiastes 3:11
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To full appreciate the completeness of these glorious characteristics that are innate to God, we need to respond to the Narrow Way and His many Truths as taught by Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer. Take the time to read through the Gospels. They are written as eye-witness history. They are not myth or some ancient jive philosophy that has no relevancy.
Time runs out for all of us, but we do not need to endure an inglorious future beyond this and suffer the mystery, anxiety, or uncertainty of what is in store for us beyond death.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. – 1 Corinthians 13:12
You can answer the intangibles that are fully present in your minds and souls, There is evidence that you are not the mere results of random interactions of matter and energy. Consider, If you saw an iPhone sitting on the beach, you wouldn’t assume that that was a matter of random chance. Similarly, the basic cells of the body are extraordinarily complex, the construction of such complex organs like the eye, the existence of male and female, and true love itself all point to an intelligent Creator.
We were made in the image of the holy and eternal Creator God and He sought to reach out to each of us, even in our day, in the critical history and the gospel message that is preserved in the Bible, especially evidence of Jesus’s life, teachings, death and resurrection.
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
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