In His Image

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;"

~ Genesis 1:26a

It seems as though recently I have been given some unique opportunities to look into the faces of women I do not know. The journalist asking me questions about my motives for pulling weeds all afternoon. The vendor discussing calories and soaps and barbeque. (Yes, this is usually what happens when I go out for the day.) Or the artist sharing with me her dream to gain exposure and move her inventory. I look into the faces of those with whom I regularly meet and think to myself, "These are my sisters." But the ones I meet in some sort of passing transaction or abbreviated moment of commonality? It is their eyes that draw me to wonder. It is their smile in which I give thanks. It is the symmetry and solidarity of their features that causes me to contemplate the perfect glory of God.

When I began working, I had one goal in mind for my growing finances: contact lenses. My vision was (and is) so bad, the lenses of my glasses were ridiculously thick and caused my eyes to appear as little more than dots surrounded by large plastic frames. My mother --always one to keep it 100 when it came to my dreams --reasoned, at least glasses hid my large nose. So much for symmetry and solidarity of features when looking in the mirror. But God is an artist. And while I've never come to love my large nose, I've come to share it with a couple of children and realize it's not the worst thing about me. Far more important that I bear the image of my God in my words and my attitude than fixate on the condition of tangibles I cannot change. Far more important that I see the beauty in others, that I see the image of God in them, than worry over my perceived physical imperfections.  

In his essay, Presence: The Gaze of Beauty, Curt Thompson (Ordinary Saints, 2023, p.217) talks about the Artist who brought more than order to chaos in the creation of this world, but beauty. When God declared all He created as "good," He declared it beautiful as well. Thompson adds:

God is not only calling something beautiful that He sees to be so, true as that is. ...the beauty that God sees emerges as a function of God looking at it. Beauty appears as a direct result of being seen by God. His gaze, His presence--draws beauty forth, for His nature can do nothing less. 

What a privilege it is for mankind to not only bear the image of the Everlasting God, but to look for it in others; to create beauty in this world by searching for it in places of chaos or imperfection or familiarity or difference. Imagine finding beauty --creating beauty by discovering it in a whirlwind of dead leaves and dust or staring into a bathroom mirror at a large nose. Or creating beauty in the dozens of questions launched at you each day before you've had your coffee, or in the face of your enemy.

This world could use less ugly and more beauty. Differences should not divide us into feuding, abhorring camps. We are all of one race, the human kind. We have all been planned and fashioned by one God, the God of Scripture. We are His masterpiece, created for His glory. Oh, what beauty there is in regarding those who refuse to acknowledge Him as casualties in Satan's useless war against the True King, rather than enemies. Oh, what beauty there is in praying for them, speaking life into their situations, rather than dismissing them as chaotic, less than, common, or "the other side." God created this world and all those in it for a purpose. Let us spend greater time noticing His image in the faces of others and in so doing, join our Creator in producing beauty where ugly threatens to destroy.   

Midweek: Something Different

I sat with someone a little bit ago and tried to impart some of my GenX wisdom. Of course, the Bible was my preferred reference point; but there are things I've learned along the way that, whether specifically mentioned in Scripture or just supported by biblical principle, were worth sharing. Today I share them with you.

1. That which must befall us must befall us; that which must pass us by must pass us by. In other words, there is a sovereign God who orchestrates all of life and death, who brings rain on the just and the unjust. Our lives are the story He is writing (and I'm not talking about Christians exclusively). Whether we acknowledge Him, obey Him, ignore Him, or deny Him, He has the final say in what happens. That, however, does not provide us some fatalistic pass. We are to plan and work and pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done --all with the express understanding God has the final say. If we are His, we are enabled to accept that with joy and peace; if we are not His, we go the way alone and with fearsome uncertainty.

2. It ain't over 'til it's over.  Thanks to Yogi Berra for this one. Until a person is in his or her grave, we pray for their salvation. Until God tells us to leave our church for another fellowship, we remain in prayer and fight valiantly for the local family to which we belong. Until doors and windows and keyholes are closed, we keep doing the thing God has called us to do. Until our children are with Jesus or we are, we parent them in whatever capacity God gives opportunity. Until our heart beats its last, we pray, we hope, we give thanks, we work, we seek peace, we engage in the ministry of reconciliation --all for the glory of God. Like Jacob, we wrestle for the blessing of servanthood and surrender... until it's over.

3. Kavanah. In short, Kavanah is the Jewish practice of utmost reverence and intention as we petition, adore, and quietly sit before God. We may use posture or movement, scents or sounds, pauses or intentional breathing to assist us with focus and draw us into knowing before Whom we stand; revering and surrendering any sense of self before the almighty, eternal God through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

4. Expectation is the thief of joy. The expectations we often set for ourselves and for others may be good, honorable, biblical, and the very fruit of God's promises, but to put it bluntly, we are entitled to none of them. As disciples of Christ, we are called to work and pray --whatever outcome God allows. When the results are unfavorable, it is common to abandon obedience or worse, become disillusioned in our faith. But obedience is obedience whether we receive the tangible, immediate, expected results of it, or not. God always honors the prayers and the work of obedient saints even when (or, perhaps, especially when) those things do not yield the results we anticipated. The joy comes from obedience to our King, not the results produced. If expectations are the incentive for obedience, our compliance will vacillate based on the fulfillment of those expectations; we will never know the joy of having endured for the sake of love for and fealty to our Father who designs outcomes with an eternal perspective.  

5. Philippians 1:6. When I feel like a failure, when I know I've not done my best, when the process seems slow, when I come to God, day after day, knowing that the same inconsistencies and sins reside within me that plagued me the day before, I trust. God called me to Himself --the evidence of His work in me. For as long as I continue to return to His well day after day and moment by moment, God's work continues. I encourage you to grab on to the assurance and comfort in this verse and never let go. It is a process with which we must cooperate, but it is a process that works in God's time. 

Biblical Identity Isn't a Losing Battle

Last week, I came across some notes from an old sermon. Biblical Femininity is the Gospel High Ground in the Gender War. It is unlike me not to have credited this to a pastor or teacher so, my apologies, I did not. But as I read over the notes, I began to wonder if the person who originally spoke these words had any idea where this "gender war" would go; that, at a point, gender would become "fluid" or more than binary or up for debate. Perhaps the person did not, but God certainly did; and these principles are timely even years later. Using them as a framework, I share what I've been given:

The feminist movement, outside of being used by the enemies of God to accomplish their king's purposes, developed from the abuse, disregard, discrediting, and silencing of a group of people --women. As men's hearts were drawn from God and godly masculinity, they failed as leaders and lovers in their homes. They did not take responsibility for their roles in the way Scripture commands, and they did not cherish their bride and their children as our God does His. As humans are wont to do, however, we swung the pendulum radically the other direction; despising marriage and the raising of children in the fear of the Lord, railing against husbands and men in general, and putting upon women a burden we were never meant to bear and framing it in a huge lie as "autonomy, freedom, and power". We could have career and motherhood (as though motherhood is not). We could be the heads of our homes and the breadwinners (Who needs a man?). We could kill inconvenient children. As a matter of fact, we didn't even have to be women if we didn't want to be! 

But isn't that what God said would happen? In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve discover the generational consequences of their disobedience. Verse 16 ends with, "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." Relationships corrupted; ours with God, ours with one another. Only Jesus can restore them.

For years, I found playing sports, hanging out with boys, dressing in a much more masculine way to be a safer place than "trying to be feminine." If I failed, if I was awkward and unrefined, there was no judgment --at least, not from the inner voice that condemned me; a voice that emerged because of damaged relationships. My world was hard on girls who didn't fit the feminine model; who weren't Perfect 10s. I looked for a way to escape the judgment. I found it in a more masculine personality. According to the sermon, this is the battleground: You are what you look like. We see this shift today. Rather than donning a wardrobe that reflects the work of God in us, we build our wardrobe to identify our-selves; it's all about what we decide. Ask my husband; we go to a restaurant, I look at the menu, select what I want, but --let's put it this way --shortly before the server comes, he'll ask, "What are you not getting?" Why? He has learned that, though I say I've made my selection, my mind will change at least twice before I actually place my order. This is how some determine identity today. What a scary battleground on which to try to survive, much less thrive! Modesty, femininity, identity doesn't begin with what you wear or feel, but with your core beliefs. When we believe we are created in the image of God, created with love and purpose by a perfect Creator, we can, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, walk in that identity with confidence and dress accordingly.

Here are some practical questions for structuring our lives around these biblical truths:

    Husbands: Does your wife know your care, enjoy your affection, and experience your admiration? Who has your wife become as a result of knowing you?

    Wives: Does your husband find courage and understanding for the battles he faces as a man in this world? Does your husband know your respect, and do you cultivate that respect for him in your children?

    Teens: are you seeking your parents' wisdom and evaluation as you relate to the opposite sex?

    Single men: Are your interactions with women determined by clear biblical convictions?

    Single women: Does your conversation include "man bashing"? Are you praying for all men in leadership? 

This is but a rough outline of the words spoken that day, but I trust the Holy Spirit has spoken to you in some way. Identity is important, and our "outward man", our temperament, the clothes we wear, reflect what is in our hearts. But today's society is all about following trends and being relevant, conforming to the zeitgeist. And the onus is on each individual to keep up. That is contrary to following Jesus. He never changes; Scripture never changes. God's truth never moves the goal posts and never leaves us without a Helper. Biblical femininity --biblical identity, for that matter, is the high ground, the place of victory in any conflict.