Sunday thoughts: part of the image
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| Credit: mikesween | Pixabay |
Cutlery Boy: 448, 449...this 500 piece jigsaw is coming along really nicely - I'm nearly done!
Captain Awesomeness: I've already finished mine.
CB: Great - how many pieces was it?
CA: One.
CB: One? What picture is it?
CA: It's a beautiful picture of blue. It's very versatile really - it can go here...or here. It doesn't need anything else.
CB: Ah. I see what's happening here. I think that piece is a part of this puzzle.
CA: I don't think so.
CB: Well shall we just check.
CA: I don't think it's likely... ... oh, it's part of the sea... it's beautiful... my eyes are strangely damp. Is it raining in here?
CB: The piece was alright on its own, but now it's in its proper place, it's much better. And that's just like us. Listen to this:
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
CA: I see, so if we want to know who we are, we can find out, from God!
CB: That's right. God made us. He sees the bigger picture, and he knows exactly where we fit in.
I love a good analogy, I love jigsaw puzzles, and I love that we are made in the image of God, so every time I hear the above sketch on my children's Awesome Cutlery CD in the car, it makes me smile a lot (and my children are so obsessed with listening to it that I typed the above from memory!). So today I thought I'd explore the wonder and the challenge of this wonderful truth, and what it really means for us.
There is a tendency secular thought at the moment to say that we do not need anyone else to define us - we define who we are: from our identity and our worth to the role that we play. Some of the time, it's sadly one of these imperfect solutions to a nonetheless important problem - and that is the fact that far too many people define and value themselves (or are defined and valued by others) according to other people. From the women who feels less valued because she hasn't had babies, to the act of valuing people for the money they earn; from defining people against human standards of beauty to being to prescriptive about what people can do or how they should behave on account of their sex. We should rightly challenge these things, because no other human being has the right to define us. As Isaiah writes: Put no more confidence in mortals. What are they worth? (Isaiah 2:22, Good News version). But without a loving creator God, the only solution is to define ourselves. My life, my rules, my identity.
The Biblical view offers us a far more glorious alternative. We are made by God, in his image - made for a purpose: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10). This only works if we are made by an eternal, perfect and loving God, not some petty and power-hungry deity of the imagination. But God is love, and he made us - in his image. Whatever our weaknesses and struggles in which we find ourselves, we bear the mark of the creator, and he rejoices in us! As Zephaniah writes: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17).
But whilst it is true that each individual bears the image of God and the makers mark, and hence is inherently valuable, he image of God is so much more that about being individual human beings: humankind is also an image of God. After all, God is not an individual in the way we understand, but Trinity - three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, living so closely in unity that the are One, in a way that we cannot possibly fully understand, but the implications of which are fundamental to our understanding of a loving creator. As written in Genesis:
So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:27)
We were not created to live and operate in isolation from each other. We are not 'enough' by ourselves. The truth of Genesis 1:27 quoted above is explored further in the following chapter, when God says: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18). When God created humankind in his image, he created a society of brothers and sisters, loving and supporting each other where the whole is so much bigger and better than the sum of the parts, and each part plays its own unique role, in all the ways in which we live and work and love, to make society work and to cultivate the world of human habitation for God's glory. It is how we were designed to live, and we all know it. Even when we are determined to forge our own way, I think the majority of people feel the urge to be part of something bigger, to feel they have contributed, to feel valuable and needed by someone else. Knowing we are part of a picture designed by God is both comforting and challenging. Comforting because it fills our heart's desire to be part of something bigger, but challenging: because it's not up to us to determine what that is; because we're not the star part, we're reliant on others, and because we can't be everything.
But even accepting this vision of utopia, it would be very naïve to suggest that that kind of society is even attainable now. When human beings decided to go their own way, the picture of God they reflected became a jigsaw puzzle broken up in to millions, billions of pieces. What's more, I would even go so far to say that those pieces have become misshapen so that they no longer fit together comfortably. That is the effect of sin on our souls - the place we were meant to fit feels uncomfortable and alien. Consider, for example, the words of Paul, writing about how corrupt and distanced from God individuals have become:
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.We are all selfish beings, who want to be defined on our own, rather than as part of something bigger. Even in my own marriage and family life I find myself constantly wanting to put my own desires first rather than working to build up the whole so that each is supported. And it's not just our own sin - we are hurt by others too as we try to fit together to make things work.
The good thing is that broken picture is not the final word. When talking about God's new kingdom, Paul uses similar imagery to tell us about God's redeemed people: like a body with Christ at the head, or a building with Christ as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-22). We are all different parts of that body, each with a unique role to play, but each equally valuable (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Of course, it's still not all perfectly fitting and comfortable, because, for the moment, we remain in the fallen world and in our fallen bodies - with their weaknesses and selfish desires. However, the Holy Spirit works to change us and mould us into his likeness (Romans 12:1-2) and to build up his people to reflect their creator more each day, so that when Jesus comes in glory to restore the earth, so that they will be the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (Revelation 21:2), as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27).
So, finally, how do we actually find out who we are? How do we find out our purpose in God's kingdom? One may read all this but then simply return to the eternal naval-gazing of our world to try and work out whether we are part of the sea or part of the sky in God's great jigsaw puzzle, or, to use Paul's analogy (most famously to the Corinthian church), the hand, the foot, the eye or the ear. Yes - our passions and skills are things we should take note of and prayerfully consider how God wants us to use these to build up his kingdom, but if we spend all our time trying to figure out our exact part in God's plan we will ultimately be disappointed and self-centred, because for all the spiritual gifts and good works and wonderful things that God has planned for us, none of those will save us, and they are not our core purpose or our core identity. Our identity is not what is are, but who we are: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1). Not only that, but: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (1 Corinthians 5:17). Children? Bride? There's no one human image that can fully capture God's relationship with his people. But one thing is certain, we are safe in his love, and that is who we are, and how we will be part of that perfect Bride of Christ on that final day.
So what do we do about it? Jesus said: Remain in me, as I also remain in you (John 15:4). We are to keep trusting in him, knowing above all that whatever life may throw at us, we are his children, included in Christ when [we] heard the message of truth, the gospel of [our] salvation, and marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession (Ephesians 1:13-14)
And what of practical living? Perhaps the words of Micah sum things up well:
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 3:8)
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Please note: this post is in no way sponsored by Awesome Cutlery - I'm not in this gig to make money or spend time finding sponsorship. But I do think these guys are great! Here is their website: Home - Awesome Cutlery
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