Day 22 ~ The Purpose driven Life ~ In The Image of God

Day 22 ~ The Purpose Driven Life ~ Created to Become Like Christ.

Know that you were created in the image of God!

 

There is this one great amazing feature that all mankind has and it is the one natural God talent that we display and use all the time in our lives. It is this talent that distinguishes us from all life on earth and it is because of this God-like talent that we are able to continually change and adabt the enviroment in which we live. Read this and I promise you will discover something new!

The sequence  of the heading of this chapter “Day 22 in The Purpose Driven Life – Created to Become Like Christ.” is incorrect. It is out of sorts with the Bible. Firstly we were created in the image of God. It is preordained that we will find our true identity in conforming to the image of Christ. Our alpha is God, our existence is Christ, our omega is the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1:26 – 27 “then God said, ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’ ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female…'”

Psalm 140:30 “When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You replenish the face of the ground.” 

As a note in the Amplified Bible when reflecting on the image which God used, it quotes the full tri-unity of God, God the Father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit.

It is not that we were created to become like Christ. Firstly we are created as an image reflection of God.  God has equipped us with the potential to become like Christ. However, it is our choice whether we clothe ourselves with Christ-being.

To realise and be able to tap into a fuller existence in our minuscule time on this earth we need to be in Christ because “it is  in Him we live and move and have our being, we are indeed his offspring!” Acts 17:28.

Then one of the greatest gifts which God imparted to man gives him supremacy on this earth. This ability is often overlooked.

And it is the one thing that segregates us and makes us unique in many ways from all other creatures that wander this earth.

In Genesis 1 God creates. He creates in such abundance that mankind will continue to study the creation of God for ever. Science is nothing more and nothing less than man finding out more about God’s creation. Every now and then we claim as humans accolades for having discovered something new! That new thing was created by God many many many years ago. All that new discovery does is it puts us on a never ending ladder to the next discovery. The greatest joke is that we only find out that our new discovery has another new discovery to be found?

And all the scientists out there are forever trying to outmanoeuvre God by denying him his proper rightful place as a mind far superior to theirs.

“Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.
Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.” Psalm 21:8-13 (ESV)

“he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” Revelation 14:10 (BSB)

So what then is probably the most amazing likeness to God that we possess? It is the creativity, the ability to make something from nothing. The one stamp that we all take for granted that makes us so very unique from everything else that wonders this earth is our amazing ability to be able to create something new, gather all the bits and pieces needed and then make something. Essentially making something new from nothing.

Creativity is not copying and making. That is facsimile. Creating is not gathering and holding in our databanks tons and tons of data, analysing the data and then making a statistical analysis. That is computing.

Computers will only take over the world when they can create. Even if we put all the computing power in the world together today it can only work on data that it has collected. Then for anything useful to come from that data the computer has to directed as to what is relevant. It then spews out “a best match result” from the data.

Yet your mind can create scenarios, analyse those scenarios, and create the best possible solution without the data. How absolutely amazing is that?

Creating is thinking and having inspiration for something which has never existed. So even in the smallest measure when we make a dress from scratch, although we will be copying a style there will be something new in the creation of the dress.

Stand amazed and know that you were made in the image of God. The greatest glorification of God is you living in Christ-likeness.

The ability to create, and to be creative, is not something that can evolve. Evolution theory is as a result of the creative mind. God created you and imparted His creativity to establish your supremacy in His universe.

During our lives, we tap into this God-given resource but don’t even know it. Creativity is the Genesis of all technological advancement and it enriches our lives every day in small and great measures. It is the start of something new and exciting. It drives mankind to exploring God’s universe. It helps Mom bake a new recipe. It searches for a new route to school, it tests the boundaries of our existence to find new horizons.

The source of everything we do new has to start with an impartation of creativity. Now, what does God’s word the Bible do? It starts at the very beginning explaining to us that God created for us to be where we are today. Another great testimony of the authenticity of the word given to us through the Bible.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created…..”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5 (BSB)

Discover your true identity. This was so beautifully put in the Mirror Bible that when I read Romans 8:28 I could not resist putting it here for your good pleasure;

“He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in the same mold and image of his son according to the exact blueprint of his thought. We see the original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in his Son. He is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we are the invention of God.” Romans 8:28 (Mirror Bible)

Some more reading ; http://purposedriven.com/day22/