In His Image
My kids have no blood relationship with me. All four are adopted - one from one mother, and the youngest three from another couple. Still, when people see us together or see pictures of us, they will say something like - "Boy, I can see that he/she is your child! They look just like you!" I used to feel compelled to correct people, but now I just smile and say "Thanks." It's meant to be a complement, and I take it as such.
I have trouble sometimes reading Genesis 1:26, for there are times when I just don't feel very "godly".
In fact, there are many days that I am acutely aware of just how far I fall short of the perfection of a very holy and perfect God. This manifests itself in the ways I treat others, through my inmost thoughts, and the ways I act (or don't act) in certain situations.
Yet, God says we were made in His image.
It's true that as we read further we realize that, through the sin of Adam and Eve, the image of God has become marred by sin and we are far removed from God's original intent for our lives due to that sinfulness. Yet God forgives, God redeems, God gives "second chances". Throughout the Old Testament we read of the horrific failures of those people who were called "God's Chosen People", yet still He loved them and would not leave them even when they left Him.
The New Testament tells of the ultimate solution for the problem of broken relationship with sinful man and holy God. It tells the unbelievable story of redemption, of hope; of how God stepped out of heaven, and became one of us...just so we can have relationship with Him.
He became like us, so that we can become like Him - to restore that "image of God" once again.
I was not born into the Family of God. Many claim that we are all "God's children", but that kind of pithy saying has no Biblical support. In fact, according to the Bible, in order to enter into the Family of God we must be adopted in to it by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. I don't look much like my Heavenly Father in my own estimation, but over the years I've been told by some that they see the image of God in me. Isn't that incredible?
I'm glad that I don't have to feel "godly"; I am godly. Not because of who I am, but because of Who He is and the work that He has done and is continuing to do in my life. I am a "Child of the King", not simply because I'm part of the human race, but because I've been bought with a price, I've been redeemed, I've been adopted into God's Family!
And I want to look more like my Daddy tomorrow than I do today.
Do you know what that's like? Do you want to?
Pastor Howie
I have trouble sometimes reading Genesis 1:26, for there are times when I just don't feel very "godly".
In fact, there are many days that I am acutely aware of just how far I fall short of the perfection of a very holy and perfect God. This manifests itself in the ways I treat others, through my inmost thoughts, and the ways I act (or don't act) in certain situations.
Yet, God says we were made in His image.
It's true that as we read further we realize that, through the sin of Adam and Eve, the image of God has become marred by sin and we are far removed from God's original intent for our lives due to that sinfulness. Yet God forgives, God redeems, God gives "second chances". Throughout the Old Testament we read of the horrific failures of those people who were called "God's Chosen People", yet still He loved them and would not leave them even when they left Him.
The New Testament tells of the ultimate solution for the problem of broken relationship with sinful man and holy God. It tells the unbelievable story of redemption, of hope; of how God stepped out of heaven, and became one of us...just so we can have relationship with Him.
He became like us, so that we can become like Him - to restore that "image of God" once again.
I was not born into the Family of God. Many claim that we are all "God's children", but that kind of pithy saying has no Biblical support. In fact, according to the Bible, in order to enter into the Family of God we must be adopted in to it by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. I don't look much like my Heavenly Father in my own estimation, but over the years I've been told by some that they see the image of God in me. Isn't that incredible?
I'm glad that I don't have to feel "godly"; I am godly. Not because of who I am, but because of Who He is and the work that He has done and is continuing to do in my life. I am a "Child of the King", not simply because I'm part of the human race, but because I've been bought with a price, I've been redeemed, I've been adopted into God's Family!
And I want to look more like my Daddy tomorrow than I do today.
Do you know what that's like? Do you want to?
Father God,
Help me to realize that there is NOTHING within me that looks like You,
EXCEPT that which I allow Jesus Christ full reign
and the Holy Spirit complete control in my life.
In Jesus' Name - AMEN!
Pastor Howie
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