The Breath

Of Life

Thus the heavens ad the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground – then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:1-7

If we were to scoop up a handful of dirt and blow into it, all we would get would be a dirty face. When God did it, He got a living, breathing human being capable of thinking, feeling, dreaming, loving, reproducing, and living forever.

As humans, we speak of “catching,” “holding,” or “saving,” our breath. We cannot save our breath to use at some later time. If we don’t use our breath now we will lose it and we may even lose consciousness.

When God breathed life into Adam, He gave more than life; He gave a reason to live: Worship! This means that we waste our breath when we use it for something that doesn’t honor the One who created us.

Although we cannot blow life into a handful of dirt, we can use our breath to speak words of comfort, to sing songs of praise, and to run to help the sick and the oppressed. When we use our breath to honor our Creator with our unique combination of talents, abilities, and opportunities, we will never be wasting it.

All that I am and have

I owe to Jesus.

Our Daily Bread – January 2, 2009