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Whose Image Do You Bear?

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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Why am I here? Every soul seeks an answer to this question. Every heart cries out for purpose. And yet most find the answer elusive. Many live their whole lives without discovering it.

But you don’t have to wait your whole life, beloved. I’m going to tell you today.

You exist to reveal God.

It’s true. God created you to reveal His glory—His very nature. You see, God created man and woman to reveal who He is.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” Genesis 1:27-28

Beloved, when God repeats Himself, He wants us to take notice. God blessed mankind to multiply and fill the earth with all that He is.

We were supposed to reveal His image, dear one. His love. His joy. His peace. His patience. His gentleness. His faithfulness. His kindness. His goodness. His self-control. His unity. His life.

God created man as an earthly expression of who He is. The same oneness shared by Father, Son and Holy Spirit joined man with God in beautiful fellowship. And life flowed unhindered on earth through our perfect union with our Creator.

Until the serpent slithered into Eden and convinced Adam and Eve to separate from God by disobeying His word. Man exchanged truth for deception, and our enemy planted a new seed—the seed of sin— in man’s heart. That new seed changed the fruit we produce. Now, instead of revealing God’s character, we display His enemy’s nature.

Beloved, the fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)—given by God to nourish, grow, and produce abundant life—has been replaced by sin’s fruit.

  • Love became selfishness that bred hate.
  • Sorrow overtook our joy.
  • Instead of peace, we naturally worry.
  • Instead of patience, anger erupts.
  • In place of kindness, we hurt people.
  • Evil has overrun goodness.
  • Faithfulness withers into doubt.
  • Harshness crushes gentleness, and self-control is all but lost.

God’s image on earth has been overshadowed, beloved. Instead of mankind revealing God’s loving and giving nature, we bear our enemy’s self-centered one. And devastation increases as God’s blessing over man proves itself.

You see, when God speaks, nothing can render His Word void. And God blessed man to bear fruit, multiply, and fill the earth.

So man continues to bear fruit. And that fruit multiplies and increases. But instead of giving and sustaining life in God’s image, the fruit man produces destroys it.

We see the evidence of sin’s increasing nature as violence becomes commonplace in our world. Hatred divides and separates, and terror claims innocent lives with growing frequency.

Mankind reveals our enemy’s nature with increasing measure.

But here’s the good news. God didn’t leave us alone to reap the consequences of our sin. He sent Jesus to conquer the sin in man’s heart through the cross and restore us to God’s image.

Beloved, Jesus enabled us,

…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

Christ has empowered us to fulfill our true purpose. We can once again reveal God’s image. Jesus restored our ability to produce godly fruit that reveals God’s character.

Beloved, only the church can counter evil’s rise on earth. Believers must submit to God’s Spirit within them and fill the earth with God’s image. His nature displaying itself on earth produces life and peace.

Only the church can counter evil's rise on earth. Let Jesus reveal His image in you. Click To Tweet

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8

I have to ask, dear one. Whose image do you bear? Does the fruit your heart produces resemble God’s character? Or are you still overcome by selfishness, worry, anger, and sorrow?

Christ endured the cross to make your heart love again. He suffered so you could be healed. He gave you His own peace to ease your worry.

Do you experience His gifts of grace? Or have you rejected them in favor of your old nature?

Living from your old nature will only cost you, beloved. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus came to restore you to life.

Don’t live the rest of your life in the desert, dear one. Let God show you who you really are. As you step into your redeemed nature, the life of God will manifest though you. And you will show the world who He is.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1:16-19

Know who you are, beloved, so you can show the world who God is.

Only Jesus Can End Division

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For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. Ephesians 2:14

Peace.

It’s an alluring prospect, isn’t it? The eternal longing God set within each of our hearts yearns for it. Yet hatred and hostility rise in our midst, driven by fear and deception.

The recent presidential election has brought out the worst in us.

We watch in horror as hate prevails in this nation. Without seeking to understand another point of view, fellow citizens hurl insults at one another like daggers, hoping to draw blood.

Our forefathers gathered to form a more perfect union. What we have now is anything but.

Beloved, peace will never come through convincing arguments and carefully framed rhetoric. Peace comes through Jesus.

How?

Jesus suffered the breaking of His own flesh in order to destroy the divisive nature of ours.

Yet somehow the church is missing the message, although it remains the very heart of the gospel. The cross conquered sin, overcoming the destructive power of the flesh. Faith in Jesus provides believers with a new heart, and a new Spirit to guide them.

Christians are supposed to live changed and unified. But most of us look remarkably like the unsaved.

Our nation stands divided, dear one. Even worse, so does the church. Christians all over this nation are taking sides. Yet we continue to choose the wrong side. We forget that we’re supposed to be on God’s side.

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.” Isaiah 30:1

You and I need to carefully consider this question, beloved. With whom have we made our alliance? You see, we can’t align with God’s Spirit when we fight one another. Jesus’ own words defy our discord.

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:22-23

Beloved, Jesus imparted His glory to us so that we could become perfectly one. So why aren’t we? Why aren’t love and unity evident among God’s people?

According to Jesus, love and unity among the body of Christ should prove that He was exactly who He claimed to be.

Beloved, the division and disunity so prevalent within the church is of far greater concern than the rantings of the lost in our nation. Dissension reveals enemy strongholds that must be cast out. Consider scripture’s warning.

As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. Titus 3:10-11

Beloved, love and unity don’t just describe God; they define Him. Where His presence manifests, those qualities will be evident. So will the other fruit of His Spirit… joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Hatred and division reveal God’s absence, dear one. How it must wound God’s heart that His people push Him out of His own church, aligning themselves instead with the divisive spirits governing the flesh.

“Ah, stubborn children, … who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit…” Isaiah 30:1

As we watch our nation battle with division and hatred, we the church must take an honest look at ourselves. If we alone carry His Spirit within us, we alone bear the responsibility for His absence. We ourselves have quenched His Spirit in our land and blocked His movement.

Forgive us, Father.

The church must unite, dear one, unite with Christ and with each other. Disunity reveals the absence of His Spirit. We must learn to discern the false from the True.

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Jude 1:17-23

Only the people of God hold any real power to bring unity because we alone carry His Spirit. And that Spirit reveals His nature when we yield to Him.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4

Beloved, Jesus suffered to destroy hostility, greed, selfishness, and hatred. Let’s submit to our Lord and let love prevail.

No Offense, But…

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Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 10:12

Last week we looked at the power of forgiveness. Christ’s blood poured out from a cross at Calvary so you and I could escape the destructive power of sin. The promise of the cross doesn’t just pardon sin’s penalty, dear one. It conquers the present compulsion for sin in our day-to-day lives.

Beloved, you and I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to live driven by Christ’s love rather than sin’s hate. We’ve been given a new nature—Christ’s nature—and that nature offers the power to dramatically change our present circumstances. When walking in that nature, we enjoy the beautiful fruit the Spirit provides.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you love to live each day feeling your heart swell with love and bubble over with joy? Wouldn’t you love the peace of God to wash away your anxiety and worry? Don’t you long to find yourself empowered to patience instead of blowing up at the people you love?

Unfortunately, that isn’t where most of us live. Instead, we far more readily suffer the fruit of the flesh, spending much of our days tied up in knots, feeling frustrated, angry, depressed, and overcome by the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our families end up baring the brunt of our misery.

What are we missing? Perhaps Matthew 6:14-15 will shed some light on the root of our struggle.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Powerful words. Jesus said if I refuse to forgive others, God won’t forgive me. Let’s put it another way. If I refuse to release others, God won’t release me.

No wonder so many of us feel stuck.

Harboring bitterness in your heart will keep you from experiencing the grace of forgiveness in your own life. That means the power God offers through forgiveness gets held back, and you’re left relying on your own strength.

You may have noticed. Your own doesn’t get you very far.

Dear one, God’s command to forgive those who wrong us isn’t about letting them off the hook. It’s about allowing God’s power to continue to flow into our lives. Bitterness blocks the flow of His love, and love empowers everything God does.

Love empowered Christ’s words as He hung from a bloody cross.

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

The people screaming, “Crucify Him!” weren’t sorry. They hadn’t apologized. It wasn’t even over. They shouted insults while He bled for them. They celebrated His agony while He struggled to press His nail pierced feet into the wood of the cross, lifting His torso enough to gasp out the words, “Father, forgive them.”

The love released through that act of forgiveness shook the earth and tore the veil. It crumbled the barrier that separated man from God, and it made the way to conquer sin and death in the heart of man so love and life could flow in its place—love that empowers, love that redeems, love that transforms and heals.

When we choose bitterness, we embrace the spirit of the world—of hatred—rather than the Spirit of love Christ poured out. We choose our sin nature instead of Christ’s nature. Jesus always forgives.

You and I don’t deserve forgiveness, dear one. We’re guilty. Nothing we do can earn our way into it. But Jesus offers it anyway and asks us to receive it by faith.

Yet we don’t want to extend that grace to others. We want them to earn it. And we won’t offer forgiveness freely because whoever hurt us doesn’t deserve it.

I won’t argue with you. Nobody really deserves forgiveness. The very fact that we need to extend it means that a wrong has taken place.

But God’s not asking us to let people off the hook when He asks us to forgive them. He’s asking us to let Him bear the burden. He’s asking us to trust His promise in Exodus 14:14,

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)

When we trust God to keep His Word and surrender our bitterness, a beautiful thing happens. He moves on our behalf. And trusting Him accesses the grace of God to provide the fruit of the Spirit in us. Love replaces anger. Joy replaces bitterness. Peace overshadows strife.

Forgive, dear one, so you can be forgiven. Release your captors so you can be free.

 

 

 

Living the “Right” Way

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I get to humble myself to you today. You see, God’s been revealing some things to me about myself. That’s what happens when you commit to let God be God and pray Psalm 139:23-24,

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Yep, God loves that kind of praying—when we pray His own Word back to Him with a sincere and seeking heart. He’s been answering that particular prayer of mine for the last 15 years.  Funny, after all this time, He hasn’t run out of  “offensive ways” to reveal to me. Thank goodness for His infinite love and patience! Obviously, I’m a work in progress.

I recently started a Bible study exploring modern-day idolatry, Kelly Minter’s “No Other Gods.” I got as far as day 2 when God revealed the latest offensive way He wanted to remove. 2 Kings 17:7 served as the springboard for my revelation.

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt (emphasis mine).

I’ve taught often on the parallels between God’s deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt to our deliverance through Christ from our own areas of spiritual bondage. Over the years, Christ has freed me from many things, but that day’s lesson offered a fresh look based on the wording of that verse. The commentary challenged me to consider anything that represented a “pharaoh” in my life. Did I have anything that exercised power over me other than God?

To be honest, I couldn’t come up with anything. So I did what I always do, knowing my deceptive heart will never give up its gods easily. I prayed, asking Jesus to show me if I did.

It didn’t take long for Him to answer. Five words surfaced clearly in my thoughts. “You need to be right.”

Well, doesn’t everybody?

I pondered the thought for several moments until realization slowly began to dawn. That “need” I had never been able to name had been a destructive factor in my life, displaying itself in several different areas. But the big one was this:

He showed me I felt so driven to be right that I feared ever being wrong. And that fear made me slow to trust Him.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt Jesus prompting me to take a step of faith and let doubt delay my obedience. Good and logical thought convinced me I needed to double-check with God to make sure I heard Him correctly. Like Gideon, I’d set out my fleece time and again to make sure He continued to give me the same answer. He would have to confirm His will to me several times before I’d finally move.

I thought my motives were pure. I wanted be in the heart of God’s will. I wanted to be certain the idea was truly coming from Him and not from me. I didn’t want to inadvertently step outside of His blessing and favor.

I didn’t want to be wrong.

So I would wait. And pray. And wrestle with my thoughts. And stand still.

Apparently, I’d rather remain in limbo than take a step in the wrong direction. Not so bad, right?

But God was trying to show me something. Inadvertently serving this need to be right interfered with my ability to serve Him.

I was behaving as if I didn’t have the relationship with Him that I have been building for the last 15 years. On several occasions in the midst of my doubt He has had to remind me,

“You know my voice.”

And I do. I’ve learned to recognize it. His quiet whisper penetrating the world’s noise has become my lifeline. I know it when I hear it.

Yet I still question it. My compulsive need to be right—my fear of being wrong— still makes me doubt it.  It keeps me wrestling with whether I even heard it. So I don’t move right away when Jesus tells me to. And here’s the truth of it, my friend. Delayed obedience is sin.

I wonder how many times my refusal to move has kept me from a blessing.

2 Kings 17:41 reveals a profound truth:

Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols.

Dear one, just like Israel, you and I can worship Jesus while serving other gods. I did. I was trying to follow Jesus while still serving my need to be right. The power that need maintained in my life interfered with me doing what God was leading me to do. Kind of gives new insight to Matthew 6:24:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and ________________. “

What do you still serve, dear one, that keeps you from wholeheartedly following Jesus? Are you willing to let God reveal your hidden chains?

I’ll warn you. You may be surprised by what you discover. But if you’re willing to take the journey, you’ll find the path leads to peace.

Blessings in the Wait

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Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Are you the kind of person that likes immediate results? I am. I’ll admit I’m not a very patient person by nature. Waiting frustrates me. Just ask my kids.

So when God whispers instruction into my life and I choose to trust Him through faithful obedience, I tend to expect that I will soon see Him fulfill a promise. After all, Scripture teaches that God blesses the faithful.

But I’ve discovered that God’s timetable rarely matches my own. Sometimes blessings loom just beyond the horizon. Time passes and promises remain unfulfilled. And I get weary from waiting. Ever been there?

Dear one, as God calls us to trust His plan, He also insists we trust His timing. So how do you and I keep from becoming weary in the wait? Perhaps we need to allow God to change our perspective.

Recently God led me to consider this thought: what if the waiting is actually part of the blessing? What if that time between the promise and its fulfillment actually provides an opportunity to experience God in a way that I would miss without it?

Caleb knows what I’m talking about. You may remember Caleb from last week’s lesson. He was one of only two men that God delivered from slavery in Egypt through Moses that made it into the Promised Land. The rest of them died in the desert. Let’s rejoin Caleb and the Israelites to watch him receive his blessing.

When we left the Israelites last week they were ready to choose a new leader and head back to Egypt. As a result, Moses and Aaron fell facedown and Joshua joined Caleb to plead with the people to trust the Lord.

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.  If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:6-9

You may be surprised to hear how the Israelites applauded their faith.

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. (verse 10)

You may discover that when you choose to step out in faith, even God’s own people sometimes turn on you in fear. Unfortunately, you can’t follow Jesus and follow the crowd. But you can rest in this eternal promise:  when you stand for Jesus, He will fight for you.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. (verse 10)

God showed up and voiced His anger over their unbelief,

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?” (Numbers 14:11)

Dear one, how long will our generation persist in its unbelief? How long will we, the children of God, allow what’s popular to dictate our actions instead of the Word of the Lord? Like the Israelites, our disregard for His Word will bring repercussions.

Moses interceded on behalf of the people and God agreed not to destroy them, but their disobedience was not without consequence.

The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.  Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—  not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. . . But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Numbers 14:20-24

Friend, even when God offers forgiveness, disobedience will always reap consequences. But just as certainly, faith will always reap blessings. They just may not come in the timing you would choose.  Just ask Caleb. He waited 45 years to see the fulfillment of his promise.

How can that be? Wouldn’t God want to bless His faithful servant? Why make him wait? Consider Caleb’s words when he finally received his blessing.

“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!  I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. Joshua 14:10-13

Sure, God could have made a way for Caleb to enter the land at forty, but then Caleb would’ve missed experiencing God’s miraculous presence for the forty-five years he waited.

God faithfully kept His word to give the land to Caleb, but He also gave him an added blessing that had not been promised. He kept age from ravaging his body. Caleb watched the flesh of the rest of the men in the camp wear out while he remained strong. He escaped the aching decay of age and stood at eighty-five as strong and vigorous as he had been at forty. And how much sweeter the taking of that land must have been for him after 45 years!

God always keeps His word, beloved. Always.

If you have been faithful to trust God through your obedience but His promise remains far off, perhaps another blessing waits for you in the interim. Ask God to give you a heart like Caleb, who believed even when he didn’t see.  You may discover your wait includes an experience of God that exceeds what you could ask or imagine.

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  Psalm 27:13-14