Created In His Image
I have been reading some of James Jordan's book, Through New Eyes, which has begun to stimulate and mix with some other current thoughts of mine.
What does "being created in the image of God" mean for us? Now, I know this can be a loaded question, and I don't presume to tackle it in its entirety by any means, but I would like to talk about one application. Is it safe for us to say that if we are created in His image then we (or our lives, etc.) should reveal truths or characteristics of Him? If yes, then I wonder how well-rounded we are in doing this? What I mean is, do we tend to just pick the characteristics we like or that seem to fit us and leave out the rest or do we work to reveal all the truths about who our God is? Now, I am already assuming that you realize I am writing this in regards to a church body, and not to every individual Christian; but of course we all already realize that we function as a community more so than individuals, right!?
In an attempt to stimulate discussion, I'm not going to mention anything immediately and hope that whoever is out there will be willing to add their 2 cents on any characteristics of our God that we could be more faithful in "imaging". So, please, don't be afraid, let's hear what you have to say.
Here are some ideas to get you started . . .
Our God is like:
~ a Lion
~ a Tree of Life
~ a Rock
~ a Refuge
~ the Sun
~ a Fountain
~ a Shield
~ a Temple
~ an Eagle
~ a Dragon Slayer
~ a Lamb (one of my favorites to talk about)
~ a Mediator
~ a High Priest
~ a Judge
~ a Comforter
What does "being created in the image of God" mean for us? Now, I know this can be a loaded question, and I don't presume to tackle it in its entirety by any means, but I would like to talk about one application. Is it safe for us to say that if we are created in His image then we (or our lives, etc.) should reveal truths or characteristics of Him? If yes, then I wonder how well-rounded we are in doing this? What I mean is, do we tend to just pick the characteristics we like or that seem to fit us and leave out the rest or do we work to reveal all the truths about who our God is? Now, I am already assuming that you realize I am writing this in regards to a church body, and not to every individual Christian; but of course we all already realize that we function as a community more so than individuals, right!?
In an attempt to stimulate discussion, I'm not going to mention anything immediately and hope that whoever is out there will be willing to add their 2 cents on any characteristics of our God that we could be more faithful in "imaging". So, please, don't be afraid, let's hear what you have to say.
Here are some ideas to get you started . . .
Our God is like:
~ a Lion
~ a Tree of Life
~ a Rock
~ a Refuge
~ the Sun
~ a Fountain
~ a Shield
~ a Temple
~ an Eagle
~ a Dragon Slayer
~ a Lamb (one of my favorites to talk about)
~ a Mediator
~ a High Priest
~ a Judge
~ a Comforter
posted by Brian | 3:02 PM
3 Comments:
Tonight's dinner conversation:
Naomi:"I like to move it,move it, I like to move it! Make your body mooove, nice and smoooothe, and sassy."
Dad:"You are not allowed to move your body smoothe or sassy until you are married."
Naomi:"But the Lemurs did it, and they weren't married."
Dad:"Were Lemurs created in the image of God?"
Korban:"Yes?"
Dad:"No. Only People were created in the image of God."
Korban:"What is the image of God?"
And Dad's reply . . . ?
Read my blog.
We went through a lot of analogies (mirror, paitning, statue), but they all fell short. So I read Ephesians 4-5 to them. They got it enough at that point to realize that they didn't like it (ie conviction). Then I prayed that God would apply it into their lives, and also Jenn and mine's life, that we could "image" this responsability to them.
This is our new dinner routine:
everyone has a night to pray the dinner blessing. Then we eat, I read from the Bible after supper, loosely following a schedule out of the Psalms, but switching to other sections as the dinner conversation dictates, or if the "prayer" wants to hear something in particular (Hannah prays on Tuesdays, and she wanted to hear Hannahs prayer of Thanksgiving over Samuel). Then we discuss the passage, talk about applicability, and the person who prayed for the blessing of the meal gets to close with a prayer. We got this idea from Christian and Marilyn, reading their prayer request updates. I am Sunday, Jenn is Monday (which will become Sam's later on), Hannah is Tuesday, Naomi is Wednesday, Korban is Thursday, I again on Friday, and Jenn again on Saturday.
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