Formed for FellowshipSample

Become What You Behold

We are creatures of body and soul, image-bearers of God who have been created by God in order to behold God and become a reflection of His presence and purposes. This is why we exist, but we aren’t born this way. We are born as a broken reflection of this created goal. Like looking into a cracked mirror, we are left with fragments, glimpses, bits and pieces of what we were intended to reflect.

Adam and Eve were meant to behold God and become more like Him as they lived out His purposes in the world. But shortly after they are established in God’s garden, they look away from God. The temptation of the serpent in Genesis 3 is nothing less than an invitation to turn away from the trusting embrace and worship of God. Already made in God’s image, the temptation of Satan in the garden isn’t to become more like God but to become God. For the creatures to become the Creator. For the stewards to become the owners.

Adam and Eve become what they behold in Genesis 3, and it leaves them naked and ashamed. They are exiled from the garden, and their access to the tree of life is removed, beginning the long story of exile, rescue, judgment, and redemption.

But the story doesn’t end in a garden, it ends in a city. If we go all the way to the end of the story, we find a new beginning. In Revelation 22, God brings a new city to a new earth, and there is a river flowing from the throne of God. Planted by this river is the tree of life which is “for the healing of the nations” (v. 2 ESV).

We were created to live as God’s people in God’s presence to reflect God’s purposes in God’s place. But the garden story ends with exile, curses, and consequences. Our first parents beheld a lesser glory and became less than what they were created to be.

And yet, when God restores the whole world, when the story is “finished,” what will we discover? We find God’s people in God’s presence reflecting God’s purposes in God’s place.

We will become what we behold. We were created for this, designed to begin to look like whatever we love most, to reflect in our habits what we receive in our hearts.

Thank you for reading!

This plan was adapted from Formed for Fellowship by author Kyle Worley. Click here to learn more or purchase your copy.