Imago Dei

(From August 13, 2012)

"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

One thing I really want to comment on this morning.

“For we are God’s handiwork….” Understand this: we are the apex of God’s creation. But more than that, we are the Imago Dei (Image of God); created in God’s image (visit Genesis 1:26). This is a universal concept. All people, all– even that annoying neighbor who you’d rather not have any contact with; or that second cousin who lives in a manner that you could never possibly approve of; it means the Muslim extremist or the new age practitioner or the dyed in the wool atheist you work with…are all made in the image of the Creator. Andjust this fact alone (being made in the image of God) makes each person inherently worthy. Inherently and undeniably.

And when we summarily dismiss people because of race, gender, class or (you fill in the blank), we dismiss that image of God. That is why Christians who practice bigotry of any kind, are going against a God created order. This doesn’t not mean we don’t have the right to disagree or influence society according to our understanding of God; not only do we have that right, but we ought to exercise that right prudently. But we do need to check our hearts and see where our ideology comes from sometimes. By the way, this is one of the main reasons I am so generally disgusted with our political process. The process seems to have a general goal of tearing the opposing candidate down –to dismiss the image of God that is in him or her. For what it is worth, simply tell me what the candidate believes and wants to do, and let’s go from there.

Friends– we are God’s handiwork. Ponder that today as you go about your business. How will that effect how you conduct yourself and how you approach all others that are placed in your paths.

And then ponder the rest of Ephesians 2:10….