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 being (Genesis 2:7).  But who or what is man?  Evolution claims that impersonal undirected, random process account for observed order, complexity and information in all living entities.  But where does this leave man?  “It reduces him to the impersonal plus complexity” (Schaeffer – 'He is there and He not silent').  In this view man has no value,  personality is an illusion,  and love simply  a biological trick to keep us reproducing.  

As to meaning,  purpose and destiny,  many finding themselves at at the top of their game found it to be meaningless. Solomon living for pleasure, had done everything, indulging in every pleasure know to man (he had 700 wives and 300 concubines).  His conclusion is that everything under the sun is "Meaningless! Meaningless!" Everything is utterly meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

How we see ourselves is important. If I see myself as a looser, I will operate out of that identity in self fulfilling prophecy, and it will become my reality. In Genesis we see man is lovingly formed from the dust of the ground, and He's given the breath of life from the creator Himself.  From his being asked to name the animals (verse 19), we deduce intelligence,  dignity and  creativity.  Personality, value and relationship with God are also implied.  Our value however, collectively and individually,  is only fully revealed in the outrageously,  extravagant measures that God took to buy us back from the slave market of sin (John 8:34; 1 Corinthians 6:20). The value of something is what someone is willing to pay for it. And we are bought with a price, the precious blood of the  second person of the Trinity (1 Corinthians 7:23).

 As to destiny “He has prepared works in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). But we'll find neither destiny nor fulfillment if we don't follow what is He tells us is good,  it is “to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”  (Micah 6:8).  

The “ LORD God”  in verse seven is Yahweh, the Great I AM (Exodus 3:14), the ground and source of being! And to say that we are “living beings”  made in His image (1:27),  is to say that both we and God have all the above attributes.  In our God given identity then we  are personal, valuable,  life has purpose,  meaning and destiny. If  we do not embrace this as our God given primary identity,  will likely grasp something inadequate on which to base our sense of being.   We may identify ourselves with our problem  (I'm an addict),  our abuse (I'm a victim),   our illness, our inadequacy, our  pain, our sexuality,  our gender or any combination of the above. Since we operate out of our identity,  none of this leads to the promised life  in all its fullness (John 10:10b), rather the opposite.

 Father, the song by Godfrey Birtill “Do you believe what I believe  about you?”  envisions You singing to us that You think that we’re amazing.  It's true, You think each and every one of us is the best things since sliced bread! The ultimate tool for  recovery from life's hurts,  habits and hangups Lord,  is to start to embrace our God given identity as a living being created in Your image. It's hard Lord, because the world does not see us this way. Help us to care more about what You think than what the World thinks in Jesus Name Amen