Saturday, May 7, 2011

Images


Who’s image were You made in?

I know, I’m supposedly doing the purity thing this week, well actually last week’s last last week… but as you can see I’ve lost track. I haven’t had the time to continue upon that train of thought. Fire in the night keeps me pretty busy.

So. Back to the question.

Who’s image were You, the reader, not your friends parents Or enemies, made in?

Don’t know what you think, but I was made in the image of God. To be a reflection of who he is, to showcase an aspect of Him.

And I’m pretty sure you were made the same. Actually, I know you were. The beginning of the bible says man was made in the image of God.

I like to think of man as like a moon, reflecting the sun. Without God we have no real light of our own. I think maybe God thinks of it that way too. He’s built a lot of analogies and stuff into the world. But I won’t speak for him. That may take it too far.

I mean think about it. God made angels, and according to the bible and people talking about encounters, a lot of angels are similar in shape to Man. (Which sounds insane only if you’ve decided that God couldn’t Really have made angels and let people see them. Which if you think that, then you sound like the insane one to me. Just sayin’)

What then does it mean to be made in the image of God? Does it mean we have free will? Well, obviously the angels had that or we would have no Satan and therefore probably not so much sin.

God made angels, and then he took dust and made us. What does that even mean???

Actually, I don’t know what it means, but I’ll tell you what little me, in my weak understanding thinks. God made us in his image so that we could love as he loves and so we could rule and reign with him. He put his beauty and his power into us. He made us each unique. You could raise two kids exactly the same and not get the same results.

God made the angels to serve him. Then God was all like, but I want someone to love. Remember when he made Eve so Adam wouldn’t be alone? (No, he didn’t make Eve just to populate the earth.)

Yeah. I think God made Man because he wanted a partner too.

Partnership of man and woman being a reflection of partnership of human and God. I told you there was a lot of analogy symbolism type stuff.

(BIBLICAL INSERT TIME!!!1!!!1!!!!)
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Se, also by this I think that means God made Adam and Eve here, and then the story just gets told next chapter. Maybe you all figured that part out already and I’m just slow. But whatevs.

And then, and then guess what guys????

(OMG ANOTHER INSERT!!!!)

Genesis 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

We’re made with the breath of God!!!!
Does that not make you excited about breathing? No? Well fine then.

Anyways. Now we have that God made us, from dust, but then put his breath within that dust, called it man, decided man would need a partner.

(ANNND ANOTHER!)

Genesis 2:18
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

So he made man someone so man would not be alone. He made man so he would not be alone. He made someone comparable to man so man would not be lonely. Following the analogy, what does this mean? Exactly.

Now I realize, it sounds vaguely like I’m saying we are gods. I want to be very clear here and say We Are Not Gods In Any Way Shape Or Form. Thank you very much.

What I am saying is that who you are, who God made you to be, is very specifically a reflection of him. Not just any reflection. You, yourself, individually, were made to be an image bearer. You are not the same image bearer as your brother. Or your friend. Or your parents. Or your pastor. Or anyone else.

You were made to be You. You have God’s breath in you. You were made to be his partner. Not that he needs one, I mean come one guys, he’s God. Uncreated light and power and beauty. But he wanted one. He wanted you. Specifically.

It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around, isn’t it?

Now to go back to the analogy, what do man and woman do? They love each other. No, I’m not being all over-sensitive and avoiding saying sex. If I meant it I’d say it. I mean love the emotion which kills while bringing life at the same time.
God made man and his wife to love each other. Some people say that was just so they wouldn’t kill each other. My opinion on those people is that they simply haven’t fallen in love yet and if they have, they need to forgive and get healing.

My point being, if God made a dude and his partner for love, what do you think he made man initially for?

If you said for love you got it right.
If not pray that God would kiss you with the kisses of his word, pray it every day, pray it every moment you can, and read Genesis, Song of Solomon, and Revelation.

(Sticking in more verses. Don’t freak)
Isaiah 62:1-5
1 For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. 2 The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name. 3 You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem In the hand of your God. 4 You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the Lord delights in you, And your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.

Breaking this down real fast, we have God not holding his peace and/or resting until Israel is made beautiful and his people shine among unbelievers. Yes, non-jews, you are his people. If you don’t think so read Ephesians 1:6. Or Acts. Or both.
Then you have him calling you beautiful and lovely and His, for He delights in you. And then you have him rejoicing over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

Hpw do bridegrooms rejoice over brides? Is it like, Yay good job you did it! No. Is it… YAYY I’m so glad to finally see you!!! Sort of but… No.

It’s more like… You are SO Beautiful and I get to MARRY you I’m so Excited!!! This is Awesome! You are Amazing and I Love you!!

Yeah. And that’s God rejoicing over you.

That’s what it means to be a Christian, you know. It means we partner with God, we live by Matthew 5-7 (Which, btw, people tend to think this is simply a rule book but all of 6 is basically saying God’ll take care of you if you follow him so don’t worry. Or, best said. God is the best cure for stress if you follow the directions.) and it means that we get to love God as he loves us.

Isn’t that cool?

It also means the rest of the universe hates us but that’s besides the point. If the God who made them loves us who cares who hates us… right? Right.

Sometimes I feel like when I blog my trains of thought they decide to take the scenic route to my point. This is one of those times.

His is a long journey of thinking and reading. Here, have a map.

!. God made You (Out of dust) in His image so that
@. You could partner with God and rule an reing with God because
#. God wanted a bride, someone to love who would love him.
$. God made You a partner so You could get a small taste of this.

It’s all so much more interesting when you replace the “man”s with “You”s.

Now we get to the most important point. Stick with me for a little bit longer, kay?

God made you individually to be a unique lover of Him. If that’s who you are what happens when you try to copy someone else cause you don’t like yourself?
You deprive the rest of the world of the unique image of God that you are.

When you try to not be you, you deprive everyone around you. And yourself, in fact. And!! You hurt God. Sounds ridiculous but you know how you feel when you take a lot of time thinking and planning something for someone and then you give it to them and they’re all like “Meh, whatever”? And then your hearts all like “I have just deflated in your chest and am in fact sinking down into your stomach”?

God takes forever, from before time exists till the moment you were conceived, thinking and planning you. And then you’re born and you grow up and are like Meh whatever.

See where I’m going?

So the only think you can really do is ask God who you are. Don’t ask other people. Did they make you? Maybe your parents made you I guess but… Not really no.
God made you. Therefore he knows you. And he likes what he made or else he wouldn’t have made it.

Ask God to show you how he sees you. Read Isaiah 62, the part I stuckup there, over yourself. And read song of songs. Look in the mirror and call yourself beautiful and God’s beloved cause that’s what you are.

Make sense? Great.

Doesn’t make sense? That’s what they invented the comments section for.

Peace, blessings, love, and tribulation to you. Amen.


~Silver