Image of God
2cor. 3:18- we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord
If we are to observe a child's habit or the way he walks, you would say " He walks just like his father" although he didn't try to do that. He just raised in the father's image. Now some of the image we take from our parents can, of course be good. But the ungodly image and presence many grow up under can hold them down , unless transformation takes place tht stagger into heaven and may experience very little victory.
Every culture and religion that has unwittingly followed Satan's plan of personal destruction has brought into it the false image he has peddled about God. If a culture or religion teaches that God is , say, a tree or is unloving , that's going to affect how a person lives.
In Roman 1:20 Paul says:
- For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse* .
Paul in this scripture meant, even if you've never darkened the door of a Christian Church, you can look around at what God made and know a lot about Him. You can see He loves change, loves balance, loves beauty, loves variety and can see that He's big and beautiful. You only need to be alive on the Earth to visibly know that there is a God. You can look at God's art that surrounds us and learn about Him. You can see the creative majesty of His Godhead in such a physical way that it should drive men to their knee.
Roman 1: 24
Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose.
What a graphic description. This is what happens, when sinful man creates God in his own image. The end result is that God leaves you to your own image and you die in your lust-confused and without direction. The church therefore must teach God's reality, but before we can do that accurately, we must get the true image of who we are in Him and who He is in us.
Without the right image of God men worship gods of their own making to serve their selfish needs. And the outcome is life of futility and death.
Exodus 20:3-4
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth
We think of these commandments in term of statues or gods used inidol worship and that's partially true. But there is a bigger picture than that. God is saying to us, "don't you make your own image of who I am. Keep a clear picture , a true image , of who I am in your life because if you get a wrong image of who I am , you will create all kinds of problems in your life. If you have a wrong image of God, you become like that image.
If you have wrong image of God, it's 100% likely that you'll believe and pattern your life to what you believe God is.
The Pharisees and Sadducees hated and killed Jesus in part because His message was " God is a loving God. He's not judging you. God just wants to be your father. But the Pharisees had become like the image of their gods and killed Jesus because he told them their image was wrong. This is important, because how you see Jesus and how He sees you will determine how you act.