More Than Dust

Someone’s words cut me today. All it took was one inadvertent comment from an acquaintance, powered by a left hook from the devil, and a lie regarding my worth resurrected big as life. An old wound I thought was healed, reopened. People criticize what we do all day long and we’ve pretty much toughened up to it. But attack our worth, and it cuts to the quick. So much for the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

What in the world was I thinking, taking this particular comment to heart like that? I wasn’t thinking. Not properly anyway. That was the problem. I let my guard down and allowed the world’s thinking to override my Kingdom thinking and what it did was discombobulate me until I let go of the offense and forgave.

That whole worldly value system is as cockeyed as ever. And hurtful. So very unpredictable. Rightly said, the verse describing worldly wisdom as a loose woman whose paths wind about aimlessly. Her assessments of a person’s worth are as erratic as a woman’s perimenopausal mood swings. Follow her fluctuating standards and measurements and who knows where you’ll end up. And in what condition.

That’s how it is with the world. People look to the opinions, approvals, and acceptance of others as the basis of their value. They seek validation through what they do, what they accomplish, or who they know. The trouble with hobnobbing with others to affirm one’s worth is that “it’s not only who you know, but when you know them.” The timing might be off. What happens to your worth then? [i] 

Not so with the Kingdom of God. One’s worth in the Kingdom is based on the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of this world. The baseline measurement of a man’s worth goes as far back as before the world came into existence. It began with the Trinity huddled over the blueprints of their soon to be creation. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The idea pleased them greatly. If that didn’t give dignity enough, God added, “Let’s also crown him with glory and honor and set him over the works of My hands.”  [ii] 

God then launched the next phase of their wondrous plan by breathing His own breath of life into that first human body He formed out of the dust of the ground. Granted, all of creation is brought into existence and is sustained by the breath of His mouth, but bodies made of dust eventually return to dust. Dust, by its very nature, is easily swept up by the wind and carried off. [iii] 

Man’s life is more than dust. God set him apart from the rest of creation by instilling in him the ability to know the wisdom of God . . . there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. [iv]  Who but God cares enough to write the days of our lives in His book and number the hairs on our heads? “He has memorized you.” [v] For real, who else does this?

But a counterfeit wind of wisdom also blew through the Garden God placed man in. The devil breathed out lies and Adam fell for them. He chose that wisdom over God’s. His decision not only doomed his body and all bodies from then on to return to dust, but his ability to comprehend his God-given worth was blown way off course. As was ours. [vi] 

But God, whose hands formed us and whose breath gives and sustains life, knows the value assigned to His earthen vessels. [vii] He, being mindful of man’s humiliation at the hand of this “wrong wind of influence”, moved to the next phase of His plan that would assuredly reaffirm our true worth. [viii] Since it was through a man that death came into the world, it is also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead has come. Jesus, the power and wisdom of God put on a flesh and blood body made from dust. [ix] On the cross He cried, Father forgive them . . . and breathed His last to provide purification for our sins. [x] When He rose from the dead, He breathed the indwelling Life in the Spirit on His disciples. At Pentecost, He filled them with the mighty breath of His Spirit to equip and empower them as messengers of the Gospel. [xi] 

What does breath have to do with worth? Everything. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. Our spiritual breath was gone, our true worth buried beneath the dusty rubble of deception and shame. For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise . . . only the living can praise you as I do today. [xii] We needed the breath of God to resuscitate us. Our worth needed restoration. God so graciously accomplished both through His Son.

The wisdom of this present age is being brought to nothing. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” Intellectual reasonings and assessments of human worth are also doomed to pass away. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more. [xiii] 

That same breath that destroys, also brings life. God promised another wind of revival in these turbulent last days. Fresh breath is coming. It will refresh and empower His end-time Church to do those greater works He promised.

What’s more, the day will come when these mortal bodies made of dust are swallowed up by immortality. Our manifestation as God’s sons will then be fully revealed to a world that never understood our true worth. [xiv]   

Photo by Rochelle Lee on Unsplash

[i] Quote by W.E. Corum

[ii] Genesis 1:26–28; Psalm 8:4–6

[iii] Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 3:19–20; Job 34:14–15; Psalm 104:29

[iv] Job 32:8; 33:4

[v] Psalm 139:16; Luke 12:7; quote-unknown source

[vi] Ephesians 2:2

[vii] Job 10:8–12; Job 33:4; 2 Corinthians 4:7

[viii] Psalm 103:14; Romans 8:3; Genesis 2:7-(biblehub.com Dust: Man Made From); 1 Corinthians 15:21–22; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 10:5–14

[ix] 1 Corinthians 15:21; 1 Corinthians 1:24

[x] Luke 23:34; Hebrews 1:3

[xi] John 20:22; 1 Corinthians 15:45; Acts 2:1–2

[xii]Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 38:18–19

[xiii] Joel 2:28; Acts 2:16–21; 1 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 2:5–7; Job 4:9

[xiv] Romans 8:23