High Fidelity, or Hi-Fi is a term that is probably more familiar with someone who owned a record player between 1960 and 1980. The term refers to the reproduction of music (or images) in high quality - that is, without other noise or distortion and a true copy of the master recording.
On the other hand, Lo-Fi refers to the opposite; the copy not being of good quality and having unwanted noise and distortion. Lo-Fi fails to achieve the accuracy of duplication desired.
In Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in the earth. He chose to create man and woman in true Hi-Fi. He created them in the very image of God.
Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Adam and Eve - complete, accurate, exact reproduction - "in the image of GOD" - WOW! No sound system, or any other type either, in the world can claim what God states in that verse. He made man in His own image!
How did he do that? Did He copy his physical attributes (strong jaw line, broad shoulders, slight bump on his nose, deep-set brown eyes, etc.)? How could he reproduce His own image and then claim that both the man and woman were in that image? Clearly they looked different from each other. The Bible refers to God in the masculine sense, so how could Eve be in God's image?
God, in Genesis, was not telling us that Adam or Eve looked exactly like God. He was referring to the spirit that he placed in each of them.
John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
God gave Adam and Eve His Spirit to dwell in them. God made all of the animals on the earth, but man was different. He created man with spiritual life. Having spiritual life, man could have fellowship with God.
Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
This was not a complete work. To this living soul with fleshly body, God imparted His Spirit - the Spirit of God dwelt in Adam and Eve. This was Hi-Fidelity at its very best - an absolutely perfect and complete Spirit living in mankind.
Talk about being in-tune with God - no noise or distortion, NONE! Adam and Eve enjoyed harmony with God. They heard His voice crystal clear. Is that an awesome picture, or what! Does that make you jealous? Don't you wish you could hear God's voice crystal clear?
You all know what happened next. Disobedience crept into their lives and the spiritual part of man died. Do not be too quick to judge the two of them. I am not so sure that you or I would have fared any better. Direct and clear communication with God was broken. The Hi-Fi lives reverted to Lo-Fi existence.
Genesis 5:3 "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth..."
At this point, Adam was no longer in the image of God. He reproduced Seth, a son, in the image of Adam. The image of Adam was a spiritually dead man. He was living a life full of noise, distortion and distraction. The harmony was lost. This is the world Seth was born into and the spiritual nature he would assume. This same nature passed from generation to generation with no change up until God did another work. He sent Jesus - God in the flesh - to earth. Jesus, upon departing back to heaven, sent back the Spirit of God to dwell in those who would believe in Him.
What does that mean to us - to believers? God restored the Hi-Fi relationship that was lost. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus; and the Spirit coming to dwell in the hearts of man, we are to walk in tune with God. His voice is not audible to our ears, but is evident to our hearts. His instruction is clear in the Bible and he has placed in us His Spirit to teach and direct us in our walk. So, back to judging Adam and Eve, how are we doing with our harmonious walk with God? Are we living a Hi-Fidelity life or dwelling in a Lo-Fidelity existence?
Fidelity - Faithfulness, adherence to right, adherence to a person to which one is bound, loyalty, honesty, integrity, etc.
Infidelity - Unfaithful, disloyal, lack of faith, a breach of trust or a disloyal act. Unfaithfulness to the marriage vow or contract; violation of the marriage covenant by adultery.
God has entered into Covenant relationship with each and every believer. How is that going for you, right now in your life? If the answer is, "not too well", then self-examination is in order. If the walk is not in harmony with God, it is not God who has been caught in infidelity - it is you - it is me.
I cannot speak for you, but I do not want to sit on the sidelines and be jealous of those who walk in harmony with God. I want to be one of those people. I want to be so sensitive to the voice of God that it will seem as though it is audible. I want to be led by the Spirit in my daily walk. When my days on earth are done, I want to hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
Hi-Fidelity or Lo-Fidelity, we each must choose. Our daily life reveals our choice.
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That's a good way of looking at it. It has always baffled me a little that Adam and Eve might be considered in God's image when they turned around and sinned. God wouldn't have done that! But, what it's talking about is His taking a spiritually dead person and giving them life.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to say the REAL communion with God is coming in heaven and that's true, but we are totally equipped to have full and complete communion with Him through the Spirit now. That's easy to forget.