The Pause and the Image... Magpies installment 11
June 11, 2009
Let us
The first time God consults with Himself is when he comes to the creation of man. There is a thoughtful pause of God. You could miss it if you read the verses too quickly. It isn’t exactly a coffee break. I am not sure that God walked over to Christ and the Spirit and the three of them had a conversation over pie about this final step. I believe that the conversation was more sacred. God’s plan for bringing glory to Himself rested on this final creature.
With God, a desire is transformed into reality by force of His will. God, during creation took a moment to set man as distinct in one critical area. We are a collective consideration of God, Father, Son and Spirit. It makes me wonder how that impacted humanity.
The three unique personalities of a triune God come together in this one motion. We are intelligent. We are spiritual and we are flesh. These three parts make us different from all of the composition actualized by God in that first week. It also has huge implications for the way I live my life.
I am not an accident. I am not a mathematical equation. I am not the sum total of my physical parts. I am more like Frosty the Snowman. Somebody put a magic hat on us all and we came to life. We were fashioned and then animated at a physical level. The miracle is actually that we then desired a relationship with our designer and understood that there was a difference between us. Our lives began in a search that ended with God.
Every morning, as Adam and God walked together, a bond was formed. It was emotional as well as personal. From the day we are awakened by the lights and hands that caught us, there is a progression toward knowing our physical parents, as well as our spiritual fountainhead.
- In Our Image
When God generated humanity He had his glory in mind at the beginning. As our architect paused at this moment He said two things that man would be. He would be the image, or shadow, a reflection of God. The word used was so specific that the writers of scripture used it to describe idols, which, were formed to represent a deity. That is exactly what God had in mind for his masterpiece. He made man to represent Him.
Remember for a moment though, that this is a three-way conversation. We were to echo God who is our creator Father. We were also to reverberate with the voice of the Spirit while we resonate God made flesh. We will always find our fulfillment, desire and destiny in the shadow of the Almighty, because we are the shadow of the Almighty. God’s pause did more than this however.
I have never considered how great an artist God is. I mean truthfully, I knew that he was fast. I just never took into consideration that he was good.
My favorite artist is actually considered to be more of an illustrator. Norman Rockwell encapsulated the mood of America for decades with creations that any one of us could have posed for. I felt as if I knew those people in the picture. I understood each expression because they were my expressions. He portrayed exactly what he wanted to. Just like God. The representation was perfect. It was exactly what God had discussed.
The difference between an illustrator and an artiste is the craft itself, the strokes, the richness and the texture of the image. God is not only a master at making a creation that looks like He wants but, he is an artist that created with depth and precision, strokes that in and of themselves are genius. His craft was flawless.
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This is another great lesson. I think at some point you need to talk about the fact that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is crazy how many youth (and adults for that matter) consider Christianity a religon. NO WONDER THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS BORING!!! Religion is man’s attempt to bind ourselves to God which is what makes Christianity awful for so many. But I will get off my soap box and again, I enjoyed reading about how our relationship with God is reflected in our being made in His image. Keep the posts coming!!!