Theme of the Week: You and Creation
Bible Verse: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
This week we have learned what it means to be created in God’s image. It doesn’t simply distinguish us from the rest of creation. God created us in his image to both individually and collectively express his greatness. Here it is a recap for this week:
What Really is an image?
As spirit, God remains invisible, relying on us to make that spirit visible. It is a supreme mystery that God has chosen to convey likeness through millions of ordinary people like us.
Real Imitators
The Indian intern, young and brown-skinned, speaking in Tamil, had no obvious resemblance to Pilcher or to me. Yet he had conveyed the likeness of my old chief so precisely that it had transported me back to university days with a start. The experience in that ward gave me a crystalline insight into the concept of “image.”
God’s Multi-Faceted Wisdom
A color on a canvas can be beautiful in itself. The artist excels, however, not by slathering a single color across the canvas but by positioning it between contrasting or complementary hues, so that the original color derives richness and depth from its surroundings.
The Display of God
Just as a teacher extends his or her work through students, and a brain expresses itself through loyal cells, God expresses God’s own self through a Body in which Christ serves as Head.
The One We Should Resemble
That one from Nazareth, a carpenter’s son, a bruised body writhing on a cross, even he could express the exact likeness of God. I cannot exaggerate the impact of that truth as it fully dawns on a person who will never measure up: a leprosy patient in India, for instance, unspeakably poor and physically deformed. For such a person, Jesus becomes a harbinger of bright hope.
Taken from Fearfully and Wonderfully by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, InterVarsity Press, Copyright ©2019 by Philip Yancey and the Children of Paul and Margaret Brand. Used by permission.
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