In college, I was a self-help book devotee. It was a time when the answers to all of life’s dilemmas could be found on the shelves at Barnes and Noble or in the college library. At some point, all the rhetorical claims of those books authored by self-anointed prophets started to sound remarkably similar and utterly simplistic. I admit, I can barely recall the various platitudes and metaphors that dominated the self-help genre. I do remember, however, the idea that one should live as if their goal had already been achieved. This is a form of self-actualization. As Christians, that is exactly what we are called to do in word and in action. We are to live as if the fullness of God’s Kingdom has arrived: a joining of heaven and earth that is born of grace and fueled by love. That was exactly the work, ministry, and mission of Jesus Christ: to reveal to the world what God’s Kingdom looks like. It is a place of compassion, love, justice, reconciliation, and healing. If we are truly made in God’s image, even with our human attributes, we can each reveal God’s Kingdom. Now, that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 Peter 4: 7-11 (NIV) The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
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I am by no stretch of the imagination a You Tube influencer. I do know a thing or two about image. That persona we all try to project to the world. Sadly, the persona we strive to project rarely speaks to who we truly are on the inside. So, what about being made in the image of God, Imago Dei? Do we reflect God’s image in ways that are truthful? Or do we hide behind a collection of platitudes, metaphors, and easy answers? Reflecting God’s image implies that we use our uniquely human attributes to witness God’s grace to the world. Our reason, our creative ability, our freedom are all instruments through which the God of Resurrection is revealed. The very idea of God’s image being reflected in a human person is difficult to fully understand or accept. However, it is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Genesis 1: 26-28 (MSG) God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” God invited us into life. Those are penetrating and evocative words. Perhaps those words seem almost unimaginable to the human mind. The author of our very existence is a God of grace inspired invitation. There are many descriptors for the life that we are all invited to enter. New birth, regeneration, forgiveness and unmerited mercy are all apt views of new life in and through Jesus Christ. Arguably, there is another definition of a God breathed life. The life we are invited to enter is God’s Kingdom in creation. The Kingdom that was proclaimed on that day of Resurrection. The Kingdom that was revealed in Jesus Christ, the very incarnation of grace. As amazing as that sounds, our new life in Christ is about building God’s Kingdom by reflecting God’s grace. Not just at selected times but always and everywhere. By faith we accept that invitation. And, then we need to get out of God’s way. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Romans 5:21 (MSG) All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. |
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