Have you ever thought about it? The holy scriptures say that God made man out of dust and when we die these bodies will return to dust as they decay. I don’t know about you, but I think that is pretty awesome. I can’t begin to fathom just what that means. I just have to accept it as I know that God knows what He is doing. Scripture clearly says dust, but I wonder if it was dirt. Certainly a dust storm is dirt. Either way, we are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image. Our bodies are absolutely amazing … so extremely complex. Many of those who have studied the human body such as doctors and scientists have come to believe in God by what they have come to learn and see in the design.

I titled this article Dust & Ashes because Scripture declares that we started out as dust and we will return to dust. As to ashes sometimes human bodies die in fires as well as being cremated upon death resulting in a pile of ashes. I want to point out that the ashes to ashes is not in the bible. While ashes to ashes, dust to dust is not explicitly biblical, it is solidly based on Scripture. Genesis 3:19 reads, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 18:27 records this statement from Abraham: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Similarly, Job lamented, “He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes” (Job 30:19). In Ecclesiastes 3:20, Solomon declared, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.”

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A pause for a joke — God was once approached by a scientist who said, “Listen God, we’ve decided we don’t need You anymore. These days we can clone people, transplant organs and do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous.”

God replied, “Don’t need Me huh? How about we put your theory to the test. Why don’t we have a competition to see who can make a human being, say, a male human being.”

The scientist agrees, so God declares they should do it like He did in the good old days when he created Adam.

“Fine” says the scientist as he bends down to scoop up a handful of dirt.”

“Whoa!” says God, shaking His head in disapproval. “Not so fast. You get your own dirt.”

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When God created man the intent was for man to live forever. God warned Adam about disobedience and told him that if he disobeyed he would die. Of course, we know that Adam and Eve disobeyed. Eve was deceived by Satan, but Adam knowingly chose to disobey. The death God was talking about was both a physical death as well as a spiritual death. Adam lived to be 930 years old so the physical death was delayed, but the spiritual death was immediate. That disobedience brought a curse upon man and upon the earth. Many things changed.

Before the fall of man there was no bad weather, earthquakes, volcanoes, thorns, flies, ticks, mosquitoes, wasps and hornets, flesh eating animals, poisonous snakes, weeds, floods, sickness, disease and so on. It was a perfect world, but sin changed it all. Sin is rebellion against God. God hates sin and we are all guilty of sin. It is our nature. It was passed on from Adam to all of us. We can’t help ourselves. Even the apostle Paul said that the very thing he did not want to do he did. He understood just how desperate he was for God’s help.

That is true of all of us, but Satan deceives telling us we are ok … that overall we are pretty good … and that surely a loving God would not send us to hell … that He didn’t really mean what He said. Or the devil may have told us that there is no God and that those who believe are weak and foolish. Whatever lies Satan has told us he has done an effective job of keeping us away from God.

Our sin separates us from God as He is holy and can not allow sin in His presence. We have a most serious problem, but God in His love for us provided the one and only way for us to have our sin forgiven. He sent His Son to die in our place … to pay the penalty … to provide salvation and the forgiveness of sin. He paid a debt He did not owe while we owe a debt we can not pay. We must turn to Jesus for His pardon. If we don’t, we will die in our sin and face the punishment for our rebellion which is eternal damnation in hellfire. God has given us the choice. If we go to hell we have only our self to blame. God has done all He can do. The decision is ours. He loves us and it breaks His heart if and when we ignore and reject His offer to save us.