The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7
Your soul matters, because your soul is breathed into you by God. Grasping this is of huge importance in knowing who you are and why your life is of such great value.
Adam was created in two stages. There were two steps in the process by which God gave him life.
The first was that God “formed the man of dust from the ground.” God formed a body. It was made from the dust of the ground, and in this way, the man and the woman were similar to the animals: “Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens” (Gen. 2:19).
We have this in common with the beasts and the birds, that like them, God made us out of the ground. That is why God says, “You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19). When we die, this is precisely what happens to the body.
But there is a second stage in the creation of Adam, which shows why we are different from the animals: “The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Gen. 2:7).
God breathes life into his body, and this makes Adam a living soul, capable of knowing God, enjoying God, and sinning against God, something the animals cannot do.
You have a soul. That’s what makes you different from the animals. Your soul gives you the capacity to know God and relate to him in a way animals never can.
This is at the heart of what God is saying when He says, “You are made in the image of God” (see Gen. 1:26-27). God has breathed life into you and that life will never end.
Does knowing this cause you to value your own soul more? Why or why not?
