image of God

I Am Not Magnificent

~ mercyfortheday ~ Leave a comment

I am not magnificent. I am not perfect. I am only a speck of sand in the sea of life. I am but dust in the wind. I am a work in progress. I am small in a vast domain. I am insignificant in the vast universe. I am nothing on my own. I am but one of many made in the image of God.

I exist to be in fellowship with the One who created me. I exist to serve him and him alone. My identity is found in Christ alone. There is but one God. I am not God.

The God who created the earth created mankind to love and serve him. To be in fellowship with him. To know him. To honor him. To obey him. To bow to his authority.

I am loved. I am known. I am named. I am forgiven. Loved by my divine Creator. He knew me before I was born. When he created me in my mother’s womb, he planned for my existence. Without him, I would be nothing. With him, I am redeemed.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalms 139:15-16

King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that life is meaningless. He was the wisest man on earth, and he had amassed a fortune. He had everything a man desired, and he still sought happiness and fulfillment. He says the key to a happy life is to find fulfillment in hard work and the enjoyment of food and drink. He knew that in spite of all his wisdom, he would end up in the grave just the same as the world’s worst fool would. He was just a man, an insignificant speck in the history of the world. He knew he was not magnificent.

So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. Ecclesiastes 3:12

For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36

Namaan was the captain of the king’s army. He was a strong and capable leader and had led his army to great success on the battlefield. He made the king of his country a proud man. But Namaan had contracted the deadly disease of leprosy. Anyone who had leprosy became an outcast in society. They were forced to live outside the city limits. And Namaan was a proud wealthy man. He had also acquired a slave girl when his army had raided Israel.

This servant girl knew the God of the Israelites, and she knew a prophet who could perform miracles. She suggested to Namaan’s wife that he visit the prophet to be healed. Namaan found his way to the home of the prophet Elisha and asked to be healed, but Elisha didn’t even meet him at the door. Instead, he sent his servant to give the message to go dip in the Jordan river seven times. Then Namaan would be healed.

Namaan was insulted. It was humiliating to the proud man who was accustomed to being honored by others. Was he not good enough to be given a private audience with the prophet? And why should he even wade his toe in the waters of Israel, let alone dip his entire body in it seven times? Wouldn’t any other river be just as healing? This was a further attempt to humiliate the proud captain of the army. In a bid to cool Namaan’s anger, his officers began to reason with him. Finally, they made their way to the river where he dipped seven times. After exiting the water on the seventh dip, his skin was clear. He had been healed of leprosy.

You can read the story of Namaan in 2 Kings 5:1-19.

Namaan had many accomplishments under his belt. He had won many wars for his king and country. He was a mighty man of valor. He had wealth and favor. He had servants in his household. Due to his successes in battle, his name was common on the streets. He was a known man by the little people. And he thought himself so important that the prophet Elisha should attend to him in person. He thought himself too important to dip in a river in a foreign country.

Namaan was not magnificent. His background and social status did not make him any more favorable to God than anyone else’s status. He was an ordinary man who had been given favor by God to win the battles his country faced. But he needed God’s help to fight the physical battle of his life. He couldn’t defeat leprosy on his own.

There is no one who has ever lived or will ever live who is too important to bow before God Almighty, the Judge of all mankind. The Bible tells us that everyone will one day bow down to Him. Regardless of our station in life, we are not magnificent. We can’t create the God we want. He created us.

Spitting Image

~ mercyfortheday ~ Leave a comment

Parents talk about their kids. They talk about how the child looks just like his father. He acts just like his grandfather. He walks like all the other men in the family. He’s as stubborn as his mother. He’s made in their image, because he has their DNA. They say this child of theirs is the spitting image of someone they dearly love. And they’re proud. They’re proud to see that the family genes show strong in the next generation. They’re happy the similarities are plainly obvious. They’re quick to point it out to anyone who will listen.

Who wouldn’t be proud? Who doesn’t want the strength of a gene pool to shine through in the upcoming generations?

I’ve been reading lately about how I’m made in the image of God. I come from a strong gene pool of spiritual perfection. I mean. How do you top that? But here’s the thing. You’re made in God’s image, too. Every single human being is made in the image of God. There’s no way around it. And we don’t have a choice.

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. Genesis 1:26

So what does that really mean?

When we were being formed in our mother’s womb, God was there. He was knitting us together in that nine month period. He planned the number of our days. He knew the course of our lives. From the moment of conception, he knew us. And he never forgets us. Just as God values each human life he creates, we too must value life. God made each of us unique and to fulfill a specific role on this earth. He created us with special gifts and talents that suit our personalities. He made our bodies to be complex, but each part works in sync with the next. Each organ and muscle, bone and ligament are needed. Our brains and each heartbeat are necessary for life to continue. Even those who are born with bodies that don’t work as planned or with minds that aren’t whole are designed by God for a special purpose. He knows and loves each and every one of us.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalms 139:13-16

God created us with a soul that communes with him. He knows our every thought and desire. He knows our dreams and plans. He knows when we want to please him and when we refuse to acknowledge his existence. God created our soul to live with him in eternity. But he gave us a mind and a will, so we can choose to live for or against him.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Oh. We can choose to ignore that we’re made in God’s image. People do that all the time. They decide to live in a way that dishonors him. They choose to make decisions that leave him out of their lives. They live as if they are God. But it doesn’t change the fact that they are made in his image. They too will stand in front of him one day and give an account of those decisions they’ve made.

God has invisible qualities. He can’t be seen with the human eye. But we can see evidence of him and his handiwork. His eternal power and divine character are known. But people choose not to believe. They choose not to know God.

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:20

Just as God rules over mankind, he made us to rule over the earth. We are to rule over every living creature. We have that God-given authority. There’s no need to abuse it, as some are in the habit of doing. We must be faithful in the work that we do. He created us with minds to think and plan and create. So let’s use those minds for good and not for evil.

To be made in God’s image means that I’m made to represent him. I must be willing to live within the limits that God placed on me, because He is God and I am not. I must do my work with excellence. In everything I do and say, I am representing Christ.

So, I have to ask myself. If I’m the spitting image of God, how well do I represent him? Do others see him in me? Am I an embarrassment or a joy? When others see me, do they see him? When I think of the words I’ve said today, are they words that Jesus would say? Has my attitude in the past day been the attitude of Jesus Christ? If I’ve misrepresented God, what must I do to become more like him?