Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Over the years and certainly during the pre-modern and modern ear, western philosophers have tended to create God in their image. The icons, images and frescos have all tended to portray a God that looks like the prevailing culture. This type of attitude not only breaks the first commandment given by Yahweh (Ex. 20:4), it denigrates anyone else who does not look like what is being portrayed. So there is a need to revisit the imago Dei to determine what Yahweh actually meant when he stated that man was created in his image.

From the western mindset, image means likeness. So my children look like me to a certain extent, since they all carry my DNA. However, for the Jewish mindset, image conjures up a more wholesome connotation. Image is not just about what is on the surface, but goes much deeper than that. So let me consider my children again. On the surface they may or may not have all of my features, however on closer examination and by spending time with me and then time with them, you will notice that our mannerisms, gestures, terminology and inquisitiveness are all in sync. And so whether they look like me on the surface or not you can tell that they belong to me by the attributes they display.

When the writer of Genesis states that we were created in the image of God and that there was a gender specific model [each gender has specific attributes for their particular gender], this is what I believe he is saying. Every human being has the characteristics of the creator. And these characteristics are not surface deep. They are embedded deep in the psyche and soul of the individual. The problem we face in coming to God and recognising him as father is trying to figure out what he looks like. So when Jesus told Philip that when he looked at him he will see the father, our reading of this passage is to say, well if Jesus had a beard, then the father must have one. If Jesus is olive skinned then the father must be olive skinned also, and so on (John 14:8-9).

Well Philip, this is what the father looks like. And this is what we are to aspire to. The father is loving and kind, slow to anger and abounding is steadfast love (Psa. 145:8). The father is patient and forgiving and is waiting to restore those who have gone astray (Luke 15:11-32). The father bears fruit of righteousness which has been deposited in all of his creation (Gal. 5:22). And finally the father is prepared to sacrifice his only son so that we can be fully human again (John 3:16; 19:30). So the question I would like to ask my readers today, whether you are Black, White or Asiatic, is this, when I look at you can I see the father?  Endeavour to become the wisdom of God and read Proverbs 8.