Made in HIS Image

February 07, 2011 Monday Message:

“God created mankind in his own image...” Genesis 1:27a

Have you ever thought of God as a grandfatherly patriarch seated on a huge royal throne in the sky? That’s what I was taught at church and in Sunday school. Pictures in books and paintings served to reinforce the concept. But is that the right way to picture God? Is that the way the great I am — is?

We don’t really know what God looks like. That’s how he wants it. We’ll find out soon enough. So are we made in God’s image, or are we making God in OUR image? Do we have the whole thing reversed? Backwards? Worse still, are we making an idol in our mind’s eye?

Before alphabets were invented, the Hebrew people utilized picture-writing. Writing God’s name became a sort of sin, because you had to draw a picture of God, which the Jews considered making an idol. Because we don’t really know what God looks like, any image we might make of him would be incorrect.

When God came to earth as Jesus, he utilized the body of a man to walk among us, heal and teach us, and to rescue us from our sinful ways. After Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, a comforter or advocate for us. We do not know what the Holy Spirit looks like, but the Bible describes him as breath, wind or air. What does breath look like?

Bodies are for earthly beings. When God calls our soul, our nephesh, to the next reality, we will no longer need bodies. I don’t know exactly how we’ll look, but for sure we’ll fit in — our spirit will be made in HIS image.

Norton Lawellin