Grace for the Moment
Made in His Image
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image and likeness.” Genesis 1:26
Imagine God’s creativity. Of all we don’t know about the creation, there is one thing we do know—he did it with a smile. He must’ve had a blast. Painting the stripes on the zebra, hanging the stars in the sky, putting the gold in the sunset. What creativity! Stretching the neck of the giraffe, putting the flutter in the mockingbird’s wings, planting the giggle in the hyena.
What a time he had. Like a whistling carpenter in his workshop, he loved every bit of it. He poured himself into the work. So intent was his creativity that he took a day off at the end of the week just to rest.
And then, as a finale to a brilliant performance, he made man. With his typical creative flair, he began with a useless mound of dirt and ended up with an invaluable species called a human. A human who had the unique honor to bear the stamp, “In His Image.”
from No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
Genesis 9-10
The New Beginning
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth. 2 Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.
3 “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food. 4 But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. 5 I will demand blood for life. I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.
6 “Whoever kills a human being
will be killed by a human being,
because God made humans
in his own image.
7 “As for you, Noah, I want you and your family to have many children, to grow in number on the earth, and to become many.”
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Now I am making my agreement with you and your people who will live after you, 10 and with every living thing that is with you—the birds, the tame and the wild animals, and with everything that came out of the boat with you—with every living thing on earth. 11 I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by a flood. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. 13 I am putting my rainbow in the clouds as the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and a rainbow appears in them, 15 I will remember my agreement between me and you and every living thing. Floods will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the agreement that continues forever between me and every living thing on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “The rainbow is a sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”
Noah and His Sons
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with him were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three men were Noah’s sons, and all the people on earth came from these three sons.
20 Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. 21 When he drank wine made from his grapes, he became drunk and lay naked in his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, looked at his naked father and told his brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth got a coat and, carrying it on both their shoulders, they walked backwards into the tent and covered their father. They turned their faces away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 Noah was sleeping because of the wine. When he woke up and learned what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him, 25 he said,
“May there be a curse on Canaan!
May he be the lowest slave to his brothers.”
26 Noah also said,
“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be praised!
May Canaan be Shem’s slave.
27 May God give more land to Japheth.
May Japheth live in Shem’s tents,
and may Canaan be their slave.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 He lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
Nations Grow and Spread
10 This is the family history of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah. After the flood these three men had sons.
Japheth’s Sons
2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim,[a] and Rodanim. 5 Those who lived in the lands around the Mediterranean Sea came from these sons of Japheth. All the families grew and became different nations, each nation with its own land and its own language.
Ham’s Sons
6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[b] Put, and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.
The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush also had a descendant named Nimrod, who became a very powerful man on earth. 9 He was a great hunter before the Lord, which is why people say someone is “like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord.” 10 At first Nimrod’s kingdom covered Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Babylonia. 11 From there he went to Assyria, where he built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, and Calah. 12 He also built Resen, the great city between Nineveh and Calah.
13 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the people of Crete. (The Philistines came from the Casluhites.)
15 Canaan was the father of Sidon, his first son, and of Heth. 16 He was also the father of the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The families of the Canaanites scattered. 19 Their land reached from Sidon to Gerar as far as Gaza, and then to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20 All these people were the sons of Ham, and all these families had their own languages, their own lands, and their own nations.
Shem’s Sons
21 Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. One of his descendants was the father of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, who was the father of Eber. 25 Eber was the father of two sons—one named Peleg,[c] because the earth was divided during his life, and the other was named Joktan.
26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these people were the sons of Joktan. 30 They lived in the area between Mesha and Sephar in the hill country in the East.
31 These are the people from the family of Shem, arranged by families, languages, countries, and nations.
32 This is the list of the families from the sons of Noah, arranged according to their nations. From these families came all the nations who spread across the earth after the flood.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Psalm 3:5-8
5 I can lie down and go to sleep,
and I will wake up again,
because the Lord gives me strength.
6 Thousands of troops may surround me,
but I am not afraid.
7 Lord, rise up!
My God, come save me!
You have struck my enemies on the cheek;
you have broken the teeth of the wicked.
8 The Lord can save his people.
Lord, bless your people. Selah
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Proverbs 1:24-27
24 I called, but you refused to listen;
I held out my hand, but you paid no attention.
25 You did not follow my advice
and did not listen when I corrected you.
26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble.
I will make fun when disaster strikes you,
27 when disaster comes over you like a storm,
when trouble strikes you like a whirlwind,
when pain and trouble overwhelm you.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Matthew 5:1-26
Jesus Teaches the People
5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:
3 “They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
4 They are blessed who grieve,
for God will comfort them.
5 They are blessed who are humble,
for the whole earth will be theirs.
6 They are blessed who hunger and thirst after justice,
for they will be satisfied.
7 They are blessed who show mercy to others,
for God will show mercy to them.
8 They are blessed whose thoughts are pure,
for they will see God.
9 They are blessed who work for peace,
for they will be called God’s children.
10 They are blessed who are persecuted for doing good,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
11 “People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.
You Are Like Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salty taste, it cannot be made salty again. It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and walked on.
14 “You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 And people don’t hide a light under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand so the light shines for all the people in the house. 16 In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.
The Importance of the Law
17 “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to bring about what they said. 18 I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happened. 19 Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus Teaches About Anger
21 “You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone.[a] Anyone who murders another will be judged.’ 22 But I tell you, if you are angry with a brother or sister,[b] you will be judged. If you say bad things to a brother or sister, you will be judged by the council. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “So when you offer your gift to God at the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there at the altar. Go and make peace with that person, and then come and offer your gift.
25 “If your enemy is taking you to court, become friends quickly, before you go to court. Otherwise, your enemy might turn you over to the judge, and the judge might give you to a guard to put you in jail. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not leave there until you have paid everything you owe.
Footnotes:
- 5:21 ‘You . . . anyone.’ Quotation from Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17.
- 5:22 sister Some Greek copies continue, “without a reason.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.