In the Beginning insert text

In the Beginning . . . was Life! bulletin insert text:

Front:

In the Beginning . . . was Life!

Created/Formed/Redeemed

Back:

The Beginning of Time:

"God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Everything God created was created For Life, to sustain, perpetuate, and enhance human life. Light, sky, dry land and seas, vegetation, heavenly bodies, fish, birds, animals—all were in preparation for, "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26). Human life is not the result of a series of random events. It is the result of a six-day series of divinely-designed events that formed the backdrop for human life.

Your Beginning:

"Your hands shaped me and formed me" (Psalm 119:73). The creative hand of God continues to be at work through the biological process He set into motion when He told Adam and Eve to be "fruitful and multiply." Because of God’s "hands on" involvement in the beginning of every human life, we can say with the Psalmist, "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).

New Beginning:

"In Him was life . . ." (John 1:4). The world we live in is the one God created, but it is not like the one He created. Sin devastated creation and the creature who was creation’s crown. But God still loved what His hands had made! He sent His Son who stretched out His hands on a cross. The suffering and death of His own Son demonstrated the value God places on human life. Through faith in the resurrected Jesus, we have a brand new beginning!

These are the "beginnings" that give value to every human life.

They are where we begin when faced with difficult choices about life. Before asking, "What should I do?" we ask, "What has God done?" His Word tells us that He has endowed human life with value through His creating and redeeming hands. We value human life at all stages and under all conditions because God does!