GOD KNOWS THE POTENTIAL OF THE HUMAN SOUL

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 JOHN 1:9)

Only man was created in God’s own image, according to the Scriptures.

 

I know that I take a chance of being misunderstood when I state that man was more like God than any other creature ever created. Because of the nature of man’s creation, there is nothing in the universe so much like God as the human soul.

 

Even in the face of man’s sin and lost condition, there is still that basic potential in the soul and nature of man that through grace can become more like God than anything in the universe.

 

There is no question about man’s sin—therefore there is no question about his being lost. A man is lost if he is not converted—overwhelmed in the vast darkness of emptiness!

Man was created to know God but he chose the gutter. That is why he is like a bird shut away in a cage or like a fish taken from the water. That is the explanation of man’s disgraceful acts—war and hate, murder and greed, brother against brother!

 

Is there still a good word for man in his lost condition? Is there an answer for man in whom there is that instinctive groping and craving for the lost image and the knowledge of the Eternal Being?

 

Yes, the positive answer is in the Word of God, teaching the sinner-man that it is still possible for him to know God. It all has to do with forgiveness and grace and regeneration and justification in Jesus Christ!

 W. Tozer