Eat Dirt and Die
by Laurence Windham

"Let us make man in our own image...And the Lord God formed man from the dust o,f the ground and breathed in li/in the breath of life and man became a living soul."

Man was created in a two-fold process. First came dirt, then came life. Combined, this process produced the imago Dei , the image of God. Amazing. Not that God doesn't do anything that isn't just fantastic, but come on, dirt'?! But there was Adam, walking, talking, naming the animals and picking out china patterns with Eve. Then came the Fall. Mankind became something less than dirt. Man became fallen dirt. Dirty dirt. Funny thing, fallen men don't believe that they are dirty. They don't even believe the creation account that they were formed out of dirt, by God. No sir. They believe in evolution. They think they came from slime. (Which reveals why they are slimeballs suppressing the Truth so they can feel better about their sins. But that is another funny and incredibly interesting article for ETC that you will have to wait for.)

So, if Man was once dirt and life, then he lost life...what is left? "...through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men ...""And you... were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the course of this world...we all...conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind..."

Adam's sin brought death to man. Without fellowship with God, the soil is corrupt. It is unfruitful, unproductive, save for the production of thorns and thistles. The dominion mandate/great commission becomes a drive for man's lust instead of God's glory. Instead of losing his life as a follower of Christ, man seeks to find his life by living for himself. The end results are ways that seem right and reasonable to him but they lead to death. The self-saved life is lost.

The dirt still bears the image. Man still worships, creates, dominates the earth, and multiplies. But all that he produces in the sight of God is filthy rags, refuse and dung. Mankind's religion is typified by the first seed of the Serpent, Cain. He offered the fruit of the cursed ground. And since "who" we worship is necessarily the center of our lives, fallen man's life will always be characterized by that which God condemns. We will reflect what we worship.

Apart from the grace of God we love the corrupt. Even we, who name the Name of Christ, are still susceptible. In the book of I John we are warned that though we love the God of Heaven, we still also have a desire for carnal mud pies. "Do not love the world or the things in the world... For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father..."

Being of the earth, though we are born from above (a re-creation), we are enticed to choose filth. We must remember that our continuing ability to act and think righteously is not based on our composition hut by the life given to us by our Savior. We lost our righteousness, but by God's mercy we have been given the merit earned by Christ. The beauty of this is that He walked among us in the same material we are made of. Just as the glory of God filled the Tabernacle and Temple , buildings made from materials produced from dirt, so also Christ took the form of Man. And as a man he redeemed us and reconciled us to God the Father. Now we who are in Christ have what was lost-life. The apostle Paul stresses this to the Galatians, who were being taught that dirt could become something good outside of God; "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Remember, first there was dirt, then life. After the fall, fallen dirt, then life in Christ. Now we are redeemed fallen dirt that lives in a fallen world.

And what a corrupt world it is. So corrupt that one day it will be purposely recreated as the paradise it once was. But for now, the Serpent crawls on the ground. Winding hisssself to and fro across the face of the earth. Why doesn't the snake just stay under a rock'? The answer is found in the curse God placed on the serpent. Remember what God said to the serpent? "you shall eat dust all the days of your life." The Serpent feeds on its own posterity. Satan fattens the lost of this world for his own consumption. They think that they are independent, self-made, in control and yet generation by generation they populate hell. While alive, they are full of youth and wealth and amusement and pleasure. They perform acts they think are righteous and make them feel good about themselves. But they are simply contented beasts prepared for slaughter. The Snake eats the dirt! But the unregenerate are not the Serpents only targets. Remember the words of Christ to Peter'? "Satan has desired to have you."

But thanks be to God, that we are inexplicably and irreversibly joined to the One who has crushed the head of the serpent. What's more is that we, being dirt, have been made holy by the presence of' Christ in us. How is that possible? Think about all those times that prophets were told to remove their sandals while in the presence of God. They were on holy ground. Moments before, they had been standing on common, normal, everyday soil. The next thing they knew they were in the presence of God, standing on dirt made holy because God was now present there.

We are earthen vessels, then and now. But, "that lie might make known the riches of His glory," we are, "vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called;" We are still dirt. Our holiness is His, the One who dwells within us.