Made in His Image

As I sit here this morning with my Bible open, I glance out at the blue sky and remember so many powerful times with God as I walked under His great expanse. Our man-made houses are stuffy and full of man-made things. They do not easily take us into the presence of God. Some of us try to overcome this by visual reminders and music that talk of God and our relationship with Him. But they are reminders, not the real thing!

Blue sky, outdoors, expanse, sun, moon, stars, amazing nature on the micro and cosmic levels and everything in between… these lead us into the presence of God, recognizing our Creator and worshiping Him.

King David grew up out in the fields watching and caring for sheep. He knew God personally as day after day, night after night he was in awe of all the creation he observed. He knew God personally as his protector, defender, healer, and friend. Who else could he talk to when he was with the sheep? All that he learned in that environment served him well most of his life.

It was when he moved into the palace he created for himself and gained many wives that he lost his footing with God and messed up big tim,e. Even David, a “man after God’s own heart” began to mess up as he had more power, more kingdom to rule, more success as a leader, and more praise from people.

When we determine to satisfy all the desires of the flesh, we make less and less room for God. Our eternal vision is dimmed and we focus on the insignificant things like accumulating wealth, power and prestige. We build bigger and bigger houses and spend more and more time and money maintaining and filling them. And God becomes smaller and smaller until we believe that we can define Him, instruct Him, and make Him meet our expectations by rituals, chants, and demands. Or we even begin to ignore Him and tell ourselves he doesn’t exist.

Jesus was told by Satan in the temptations that if He would bow down to Satan and worship him, He could have all the wealth He desired (turn the stone into bread), He could rule the whole world (power), and He could draw attention to Himself by surviving a death-defying fall (prestige). Jesus refused them all. (Luke 4:1-13) Instead, He had no place to lay His head (He didn’t own a house). (Matthew 8:20; Luke  9:58) He chose to be a servant of all, (He chose to not use power over others to lead them) washing His disciple’s feet – even the one who would betray Him. (John 13:3-11) And He chose to always glorify God and not Himself. When the people tried to make Him King by force, He slipped away through the crowd. (He wasn’t interested in prestige) (John 6:14-16)

If we were to focus on eternal things like our relationship with God, His plans for us and others around us, His invitation extended through Jesus to come and follow Him, and His command to GO – and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19-20), I wonder if our need for the physical things of this world like wealth, power, and prestige would diminish – if we would be more content with where we are and who we are, and if our desire to control others would be replaced by an invitation to come, taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)

Lord, You know my heart. You know everything about me. You made me – in your image – to worship You, to follow You, and to live with You forever. I invite you to be my guide through this life, to shape me, to empower me, and to continue to draw me closer and closer to You.