1-16-2021 In Whose Image Are We?
Here, Father
says “let’s make man in our image.” You
ask ‘our’? image? Father is what ‘we’
refer to as the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – a plurality in a single
being.
Being human,
we naturally think oh, a head, body, arms, legs, etc. Growing up, that’s what I always envisioned,
but as you read this entry, you may conclude (I pray) that the image of God
goes a lot deeper. (Start thinking body,
soul & spirit)
John 14:8-9 If
you’ve seen Me, you have seen the Father …
Philip tells
Jesus that, at least he would be satisfied if He (Jesus) showed them the Father
but Jesus turned it around saying “If you have seen Me, you have seen the
Father.” Again, don’t just take this at
the surface level – head, body, etc.
John 3:9-12 … If you haven’t believed the
earthly things I’ve said …
Jesus also
told his those, with whom He shared the gospel, that if they couldn’t believe the
things He expressed in earthly terms, how could they possibly comprehend
heavenly things? People had a hard time
accepting things He did right in front of them.
How would they be able accept things they couldn’t see?
John 17:20-23 … for all who believe on Me through Your Word that they
would be one in me as I in you …
I’ve
mentioned the Godhead (let’s make man in Our image) so God is a plurality yet
Jesus extends that out to include us – to bring believers into His body. Jesus and the Father are inseparable (by our
understanding) and He wants us to be one with Him (Jesus) as He is with the
Father. One, in unity, that when people
look at us, they see Jesus/Father (God) beaming out from our lives as the Holy
Ghost abides within us. Jesus prays this
prayer to the Father for you and me and all who would accept Him.
1 Corinth. 11:7 for man … is the image and glory of
God (read the whole passage vs 1-12)
Paul tells
us that man is made in the image and glory of God. Now bear in mind, I want to go deeper than
surface level. Of course, this passage
speaks of covering, God over man, man over woman though man come from the woman
(birth) yet all are under God
Gen. 9:6 … for in the image God, He made man
And Father
Himself confirms this speaking with Noah about not shedding blood, for God made
man in His (God’s) own image. A
deliberate act by God almighty – saying He made us in HIS image – to be like
Him!
So, in whose image are we
John 8:42-45 … If God were your Father, you would love Me, but you
are of your father, the devil …
Jesus
addresses the Jews who justify themselves as being Abraham’s seed (descendants,
John 8:33, 8:39). For us, that would
equate with “I’m in the church, I’m saved, I’m OK!” Right?
But in this case we wouldn’t truly ‘be living’ for Him (Jesus). Jesus’ response was if you were the seed of
Abraham, you would do his works and Abraham did the works of the Lord. You are of your father, the devil and it’s
his (the devil’s) works the people did and Satan is the father of lies.
But
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, He gave His only
begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life
God came
into this world in the form of Jesus so that we could have eternal fellowship with Father, through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Jesus lived as we do for over
thirty years, then He gave Himself for us on the cross. No greater love has a man than to give his
life for his friend (John 15:13). Jesus
calls us His friends (John 15:14).
Romans 10:9 That if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
To get the
assurance of our salvation, we have to do two things: confess Jesus as our Lord
and truly believe, in our hearts, that Father did not allow Jesus to stay in
the grave. Through this we gain entrance into that eternal fellowship with God. However, making Him our Lord means …
John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments
Simply
said? Keeping the commandments Jesus
passed on to us is how we show our love for God. Those commandments are to love God and our
neighbor (Matt. 22:36-40, Mark 12:30-31).
A single commandment with two parts (direction) of love. Father and our neighb or. A further simple explanation of love are the
“Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17)
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ … Christ lives in me
…
We need to remember
that we are crucified with Christ. He
bought us with His blood on Calvary’s cross.
Because He loved us that much, we owe Him that much – to live for Him. We are not our own but bought through His
shed blood. We are His so we love
Jesus. Because we love Jesus, we live
for Him and we live for Him by serving those around us so they might see His
Glory and love abiding in and reaching out from us.
1 John 4:7-21 … love is of God … God is love … our commandment – if
we love God, love our brother also (again).
As we truly
love God, we find ourselves loving those around us, especially others who are
in Christ Jesus. John puts it simply in
his letter that if we don’t love others, we are lying to ourselves (at the
least). When we ignore or even hate
others, where is love? Father’s love
should be noticeable in our lives.
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are compassionate, gracious,
longsuffering, merciful in truth.
Praise God
for these qualities as expressed through Jesus.
If these qualities were not in our living God, I wouldn’t have been able
to write this and you wouldn’t be reading it today. Should you not understand? Go and research the meaning of these words of
this verse for a deeper understanding.
1 John 2:1-3 … you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ …
Just after
John tells us how God’s love should be alive in our heart, he gives us a
caution and hope. Don’t sin, but
if you do Jesus is our advocate. We
aren’t perfect. We’re human. We will mess up along the way. An advocate steps in and represents
another. Jesus stepped in for us at the
cross so we would not be denied eternity and He steps in when we stumble or
fall and helps us to get back up on our feet.
Paul tells us to run the race as if we expect to win (1 Corinth. 9:24). Though we continually fight flesh against
spirit (Rom.7:14-25), when we persevere, God is with us and we do win! Don’t worry about being first to cross the
line. Jesus already did that (at the
cross, the grave and the ascension). But
we always do our best so that we, too, can cross that finish line. Should we ‘mess up’ confess what we have done
(speak aloud to Father), repent, renounce, then forget it and press on. When this is done, God forgets it and so
should we (Isa. 38:17). This is our receiving
God’s forgiveness. (I’m not talking ‘lip
service’ but all this is done from our heart)
1 Corinth. 13:13 for now, faith, hope and love abide
but the greatest of these is love
Paul cites
three things that are very important to God – faith, hope and love. Faith is believing God, hope is looking
forward to receiving what God says and will do and His love ties it all
together. God’s love for us and our love
for our heavenly Father help us to become one with Him.
Matt. 22:37-40 Love God, love our neighbor for upon this hangs the law
& the prophets
Jesus tells
us that love is the top key to being with God.
Everything the Law and the prophets say and did come out of God’s love
for us. Read the bible and prove
me wrong (if you can - lol)
So does God
deserve our devotion and our love? For
salvation? The things He has done, is
doing and will continue to do for us? We
are quick to receive His love, shouldn’t we return it? Continually giving Him praise and glorifying
Him.
Do we live
in God’s love, allowing that love to abide in us and flow through us to those
around us.?
So, in whose
image are we?
Amen
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