In God’s Image

Posted on by korgrocker

“what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honour. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
Psalm 8:4-8 NLT

David wrote that human beings are entrusted with the care of all that God has made. If we read Genesis 1 we find just that mission in verse 26. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’”. We also find from this verse that God created mankind in His image. But when we look around us and see the unlimited and infinite extent of God’s creation, and all made from nothing by the way, we wonder what being made in God’s image really means. In so many ways, mankind is no different from the other created animals around us. We are of a family of mammals, that produce living young. We are bounded by constraints imposed by our physical abilities. Although we have a much enhanced mental capacity, when compared with other animals, there are still limits. God has no boundaries, either with who He is, or what He can do.

According to Genesis, human beings are supposed to be caring for the rest of God’s creation, but looking around us we see a world abused and even destroyed in places by man’s selfish ambitions. Sin has corrupted the very essence of God’s plans and left us a long way from what should have been. And then God is Spirit, exposing another difference. But we do have to accept that we are in part a reflection of God in our moral and mental capacities. For example, God loves us, and we can love others. God is righteous and we can make righteous choices. God is caring and compassionate and we can look at our families and neighbours, our hospitals and charities, and be caring and compassionate people. 

We read Genesis 1:26, and see a very significant word – “our”. Mankind was made by our plural God, and in Genesis 2:18 we read, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him””. With the advent of Eve, and the concept of marriage we continue to be socially reflecting God in His image. 

Sin, introduced in Genesis 3, marred what God intended for those created “in His image” and corrupted both mankind and God’s creation, which, as we read in Romans 8:22 is struggling under the weight of sin. “For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”‭‭. But God had a plan of redemption for human beings through Jesus and we read about this in Ephesians 4:24, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. By choice, and thanks to Jesus, we are able to return to what God originally intended. What a gracious God we serve! In spite of our rebellion and sin, He still reaches out to us with love and grace, with mercy and compassion, and we can still function “in His image” if we so choose. 

Dear Father God. Please help us to make right choices in our lives and put us on the path to return to the state You originally intended for us, in Your image. Please forgive us for our sins we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus’ Love

Posted on by korgrocker

“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.”
John 13:1 NLT

It must have been really difficult for Jesus. On the one hand He was facing a horrendous experience leading to His death just a few hours away. But on the other, He knew that he would be leaving His disciples behind, in a hostile environment where any followers of Jesus would be persecuted. And Jesus’ pain was made worse by the fact that He loved His disciples. Ever since the day when He chose them, even Judas who later betrayed Him, Jesus had shared His life with them. He had prayed for them, taught them, encouraged them, corrected them, all the while with a gentle but firm loving hand. 

The Apostle John later wrote in his first letter, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:8-10). This is a breath-taking Scripture, in that God not only said He loved human beings, but He demonstrated how much by sending His Son to die in our place, as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners“. And all through His ministry here on earth, Jesus demonstrated God’s love without limit. 

God has always loved His creation. After all, He created human beings in His image, as we read in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Isaiah declared how much God loves us, “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:10).

We pilgrims are the sole dispensers of God’s love to those around us. There is no-one else. Our secular politicians know nothing about God’s love. Neither do our medics or lawyers. God had a different plan, as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:16-29, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no-one may boast before him.” That’s us, folks. We don’t need a PhD, or any theological credentials, no matter how impressive, to tell others about Jesus. A quote from David Pawson: “Every single person in your church could do something great for God and say something great for God, by the power of the Holy Spirit; even if you have no natural gifts, even if your heredity is all awry, even if your environment hasn’t given you a chance, everybody could do this, for the Holy Spirit is no respecter of persons and can use anybody who is willing”. Are we willing? Of course we are, with a resounding “Yes Lord!”.

Father God. We echo Isaiah’s words – “Here I am, send me”. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our Identity

Posted on by korgrocker

“Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
1 Peter 2:10 NLT

‭‭Our identity is made up of our memories, feelings, experiences, and relationships, but it will also be influenced by external factors such as fashion, music, and politics. But we mustn’t also forget the spiritual influences that shape our concept of God and His ways. I was brought up in a Christian home, with parents who took me to church each Sunday. I still remember those early years with the pews and hassocks, the musty smell, the prayer book, the stained glass windows, and the wonderful hymns that still resonate with me today. In those days I had a children’s Bible full of wonderful stories – David and Goliath, the crossing of the Red Sea, Jesus feeding the five thousand and walking on water. In those primary years I also went to a Sunday afternoon Sunday School, run by an elderly couple in a Gospel Mission hall. We sung some great choruses. The teacher sometimes used flannelgraph to illustrate the stories. Precious memories, because they shaped much of what I am today.

In our societies we can look around and sometimes recognise the identities of the people we meet. Mainly, of course, by the way they dress, but also by the way they behave. But such preconceived opinions are mostly not helpful, because we can erroneously compartmentalise people into a category that turns out to be false. The old prophet Samuel fell into such a trap when he had been sent to the house of a man called Jesse to anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel. The first son impressed him, and we read in 1 Samuel 16:6-7, “ … Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart””. 

‭So how would I describe my personal identity? I think we would all find that a difficult, and perhaps painful, question to answer. And one that is very personal to each one of us. To define an identity, we need something to identify with, and the obvious place to start, for pilgrims such as us, is with the Bible. God’s Word defines our identity. We are now children of God. We have just read the verse that we are “royal priests”. And we end up with an identity as a child of God that defines us, even if sometimes we fail to live up to its ideals. 

Peter started the verse today by saying that, in our pre-Christian days, we had “no identity as a people“. Any identity we claimed to have had would in fact be worthless from God’s perspective. Anything blighted by sin and wickedness is not a worthwhile identity to have. But now we have an identity as “God’s people”.

There is an extremely counter-cultural verse right at the beginning of the Bible, that defines our identities and rubbishes most of the secular ideologies around us. Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them“. This verse, above all others in my opinion, is life changing once its impact is accepted and taken on board. It must break His heart to see rebellious people, who reject the truth that He made them in His image. And all those people promoting a plethora of genders immediately come to grief. How can we reject the fact that God has made us? What else can we do other than repent of our sin and rebellion and embrace the Master Craftsman, who designed every cell in our bodies? 

Father God, we repent of our sin today, in the knowledge that only You have the true answer to our identity questions. Please help us, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.