Printed from: https://www.cmf.org.uk/doctors/devotion/?id=devotion&day=12&month=3
What is man? Psalm 8:4
Doctors are people -- human beings -- who look after patients, also human beings. We are men and women looking after other men and women. So this question `What is man?' is one of vital interest for us. What kind of beings are we and our patients? What does it mean to be human?
Followers of different philosophies have given very different answers to this question. The Humanist teaches that man is the highest being in the universe, and that he has evolved as the result of the random movement of atoms and molecules. This philosophy is widespread in Western countries. Man, as the highest being in the universe, is his own saviour. God is non-existent, or irrelevant to man and his concerns.
Those who hold this teaching often fail to see the fundamental contradiction involved in it. If man is simply the end result of material particles in motion, what reason have we for believing that thought is valid? None at all: we have simply proved by human reason that human reason is invalid, which of course is nonsense.
The Bible answer is totally different. man is a creature made in the image of God: we are told this in the very first chapter of the Bible. Man's special position and dignity spring from this fundamental fact. `The image of God' is seen particularly in those human characteristics of thought, ability to speak and reason which distinguish man from the animal creation. Man is more than matter in motion. Human thought processes are not just the result of particles in motion: they reflect God's wisdom. (This does not mean, of course, that the brain does not have a function in this: we all know a person's ability to think is affected by certain drugs, such as alcohol, and by certain diseases). But we believe that reason has a certain validity, and is not just the end result of random movement.
The New Testament shows us an even greater truth. God has revealed himself to man as Man: the Man Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is both full God and fully Man: he has a fully divine and a fully human nature in one Person. God has entered the world of man in Christ, and we now see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Lord, I thank you for making man in your image and
I thank you for make me. I thank you most of all for
the Lord Jesus, who is God come as man for our
salvation. Help me, as I move among my patients
today, to remember that they, like me, are creatures
made in your image, and to treat them accordingly.
Further reading: Ps 8. 2 Cor 4:3-6.
JWMcM
