Sunday, November 30, 2008

What am I reflecting?

Gen. 1:26Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

We are studying Genesis in 128, our youth ministry, and we are already through the 1st chapter. It is interesting to me that God created ONLY humans in His image. Then He also gave us a limited amount of instruction for our time here on earth.
We are to bear His image, be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. As I look at the list some of these things seem harder than others. "Be fruitful and multiply" and "subdue the earth" seem much easier than bearing the image of Creator God. How can I be a reflection of God? If the only way for people to see God is by looking at me, what should I do or be?
I am looking out my window at the snow crested mountains, the backdrop of the blue sky, a few wispy clouds, dark green trees on the foothills around the higher peaks and they look so much more majestic than I, BUT I am the one made in His image, not any of the rest of creation.
If I had to do this reflecting on my own, I would be in serious trouble. I would only reflect the sinfulness of fallen man, not the pure radiance of who God really is. But we are not in this on our own. God sent His Son to take away the sinfulness and then sent His Helper to live inside of us, that we might really reflect who He is to the world.
On my own I can't have any of the fruit of the Spirit, that makes me look more like the Image, but with His Spirit I can look like the One who is the Creator and Sustainer.
Gal. 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

I can't love on my own, have joy or peace on my own, be patient or kind, have any goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self control. The only way I can reflect those attributes of God is with His help. W/o His help I am only going to reflect the ugliness of a fallen, sinful man; me.
It seems strange that God would pick me/us to reflect Himself to the world. This is both humbling and exhilarating. To think that God picks us to represent Himself to the world. What a responsibility and privilege. What freedom (He chose us) and weight.
What I do with my time is reflective of the importance of who God is to me.
My community thankfulness towards God is reflective of what He has done for me.
My testimony to others about what God has done, and is doing, in my life is a direct reflection on how they may view God.
If I truly believe that God will keep His promises, then will I worry about tomorrow? If I am not worrying about tomorrow, when so many others are, how much different will that reflection be?
I don't want to be a cloudy reflection. I don't want to be opaque or etched. I want to be a pure reflection of How Good our God REALLY is. I've a long way to go, but He who began a good work, will be faithful to complete it.

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