9 Don’t lie to each other. Take off the old human nature with its practices 10 and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it. 11 In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people.
12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Reflection
My father loved woodworking. Carpentry, furniture-making, cabinetry, carving – if it could be made from wood, he’d done it. You always knew when Dad had carved a piece, because they all had very distinct faces. I’m not 100% sure how to describe it, except to say this: though the features were always exaggerated, there was a little bit of his face in everything he carved. Since, as I’ve gotten older I’ve begun to look more and more like him, I guess I could rephrase that to say that when I look at his carvings now, I see a bit of my face in everything he made.
This is one of the messages of the Bible: there’s a bit of God’s face in everything God made. The scripture says that humans are all created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).
Admittedly, a lot of days we struggle to remember that. Most days, we only see the labels we hang on people: straight/gay, black/white, immigrant/American, liberal/conservative, Christian/atheist. We fail to recognize the deeper truth that we are all made in God’s image.
Perhaps that’s because God’s image often feels like an abstraction to us. We can’t wrap our heads around it. If you asked 100 people “Who is God?” you’d probably get 101 different answers.
But here’s the good news: for those who follow Jesus, suddenly God has a face we can see. The image of God is no longer an abstraction. Because when we read the gospels, we can see how God lived. We can know how God treated people. We can understand how God practiced love in a variety of real, everyday situations.
We are all made in God’s image. This is the theological truth we stand on.
We’re called to live into Christ’s image. This is the spiritual aspiration we reach for.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering and Prayer
Take a few minutes today to google “how Jesus looks in different cultures.” How could these varying images of Jesus inform our faith?
Prayer: Holy Spirit, we plead with you today to help each of us remember that we are ALL created in the image of God. Whenever we are tempted to divide, deride, or dismiss, first remind us of that truth. But more than that, Lord, stir our hearts with a deep desire to look more and more like Jesus every day. We pray all this in his name, amen.
