Bearing His Image-Week 1-Day 4

THURSDAY

imago Dei: in Joy and Trouble  |  1 Thessalonians 1:2-7 

Reflect

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 1 Thess. 1:2-7 | KJV

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 Something in me resists speaking of "polishing the rough surfaces of our lives into a mirror that clearly reflects God and Christ." No matter how much I clarify that such "polishing" is an internal work of God that we embrace and partner with, I'm afraid too many will only be confirmed in an unhealthy obsessive compulsive pursuit of holiness that doesn't just smear but smash the reflection. Too many of us spend far too much time polishing our faces for public appearances at church events and meetings. Too few of us appreciate that the image of God reflects from our faces in the most profound and glorious ways when we aren't even trying. It's often in our most "unpolished" moments - yes, even when we're cranky! - moments when life and we along with it are falling to pieces and we wonder how God could possibly be reflected in the pile of shattered pieces that all too often is our life - at least from what we see. So crucial for us to remember that being divine image bearers isn't a matter of having or keeping ourselves or our lives together. In this upside down kingdom of God that Jesus has ushered into the world, the more cracked, broken, shattered we are, the clearer the reflection. It's such a key turning point for each of us, when that "something" happens in us, empowering us to take the trouble with the joy and the joy with the trouble.

And that is worth just a bit of reflection...

Relate

Who do you know whose life has been shattered - only to have the coherent and healing reflection of God made clearer through all the broken pieces? How does this encourage you with regard to the broken pieces of your own life?

Respond

God, let your face be reflected in mine, your heart in my heart, your voice in my voice, your touch in every touch of my hand, every movement of my life - whether feeble and faltering or fearless and faithful. Through Christ.

Bearing His Image-Week 1-Day 3

WEDNESDAY

imago Dei: more than words  |  1 Thess. 1:2-7

Reflect

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-7 | KJV

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Most of our time these next few weeks will be spent in Paul's first letter to the believers in first century Thessalonica (we know it as 1 Thessalonians). This is one of those early communities of believers that Paul helped to launch, and his primary label or tag for them is that of their being "imitators" of God and Christ. They became such clear reflections of Christ that that reflection was seen throughout the region. Imago Dei had found a home among these who had previously worshipped hand-crafted idols essentially made in their own image and that of their culture and religion. As Paul says, "Something happened in you."

There's the key.

It was more than words.

It involved words, but it was more than words, whether another's words or their own. Something happened in them. And that inner happening changed everything - changed them. They became imitators of the Message and the messenger, and ultimately became imitators of Christ. An inner wellspring of love began gushing within them, spilling out into an enthusiastic embrace of one another in life-empowering circles of fellowship and community in an ongoing pursuit of Truth - truth that was spelled only one way for them:

C-H-R-I-S-T.

Relate

Has "something happened in you" - or are you still waiting?

Respond

God, let your face be reflected in mine, your heart in my heart, your voice in my voice, your touch in every touch of my hand, every movement of my life - whether feeble and faltering or fearless and faithful. Through Christ.

Bearing His Image-Week1-Day 2

TUESDAY

imago Dei: distortions  |  James 3.5-12

Reflect

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue-it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can't go on.

A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?   James 3.5-12 | MSG

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Paul says, "We all, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of the Lord as in mirror" - and consequently reflect that image - and ultimately are transformed into that which we reflect (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). The "unveiled" part of this scares us, of course. We're much more comfortable being like Moses and putting on a veil to cover our face lest others "see the glory fading." Who wants to see the face of God with a scowl or a snarl? A face contorted with resentment, reddened with shame, riddled with guilt? Yes, it can be quite a distorted reflection that we offer others of the God we see and seek. Which means it's probably a good thing to remember that "his power is made known in our weaknesses." None of us are perfect "icons" of God, are we? Most of us can readily see ourselves in James' description of that runaway tongue that can't be tamed. Image bearers of God slamming other image bearers. Yes, we do know this. Ancient mirrors were typically, at best, polished metal that at least gave the one gazing into it a general outline and idea of the face peering back at him. Therein lies the core challenge of this brief series: how can we polish the rough exterior of our life so that it reflects an undistorted view of God's face? As Jesus said, the key is cleaning the inside so that the outside also may be pure. This will be our focus these next few weeks - the process of cleaning the inside so that as people see our face they see the face of God reflected back to them. This cleaning process begins when we are impacted by the radical love of God that drives us into life-changing circles of people passionately pursuing the truth of God. When these three qualities come together, the distortions fade, and we become increasingly clear reflections of Hope in a world where hope is in desperately short supply.

Relate

Where do you sense the mirror of your life could use some polishing? What is the inner soul work you hear God calling you to? What are your first steps?

Respond

God, let your face be reflected in mine, your heart in my heart, your voice in my voice, your touch in every touch of my hand, every movement of my life - whether feeble and faltering or fearless and faithful. Through Christ.

Bearing His Image - Week 1-Day 1

MONDAY imago Dei*: Can you bear it? | Genesis 1.26-28

Reflect

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1.26-28 | KJV

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Consider what God is looking for at this point. God isn't looking for servants. God isn't looking for slaves, workers, contestants to play a game or jump the hoops correctly. God is simply looking for images! God wants images of God to walk around the earth! ("Male and female God created them" it also says in Genesis 1:27, which must mean there are two major manifestations of the divine image.)

This is amazing.

It's as if God is saying, "All I want are some living icons out there who will communicate who I am, what I'm about, and what is happening in God." "You are the ones that I have chosen, that people may know and believe me and understand that it is I" (Isaiah 43:10). Henceforth, all true morality is simply "the imitation of God." Watch what God does, and do the same thing! It is not a "those who do it right get to go to heaven" thing, as much as it is a "those who live like me are in heaven now" thing!

God wants useable instruments who will carry the mystery, the weight of glory, and the burden of sin simultaneously, who can bear the darkness and the light, who can hold the paradox of incarnation - flesh and spirit, human and divine, joy and suffering, at the same time, just as Jesus did. Watch what Jesus does, and do the same thing. That, indeed, is hard. Then, and only then will creation be "good" again... such a text gives us both glorious but non-inflating goals. There is no appeal to the ego here, only to our need and desire for union - with ourselves and with God.

Richard Rohr from his book Scripture as Spirituality.

Yes, Richard. That.

* imago Dei = image of God

Relate

Imago Dei. Image of God. Does the idea leave you feeling empowered? overwhelmed? confused? 

or what? Why?

Respond

God, let your face be reflected in mine, your heart in my heart, your voice in my voice, your touch in every touch of my hand, every movement of my life - whether feeble and faltering or fearless and faithful. Through Christ.