Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 29

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

The beginning chapters of Genesis make a profound statement about humanity, declaring that we were made in the image of God himself. There are lots of academic discussions about what exactly that means, but all of those aside, what it does offer is a picture that contrasted with various ancient near eastern myths of the time that depicted humanity as some divine joke at best and as slaves at worst. The Genesis story gives us a picture of humanity as special in the eyes of God – the peak of his creative outlet.

As broken as humanity is, every person still carries aspects of that image and just as we use that part of our story to feel good about ourselves, so we should use that part of the story to inform how we deal with others.

What if we saw every single person on this planet as an image bearer – broken, but still bearing the image of God somehow? What would that do for our sense of valuing others, pursuing their good and embracing forgiveness when they wrong us? How would that inform Jesus’ challenge to pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us?

Too often we create borders and then set about defining who is inside and outside those borders. Those lines may be drawn along family lines, friendships, faith groups, political allegiances, sexual preference, racial differences, economic status, even things like national borders – are wars not simply the protection of a border somehow, making sure those who are outside that border do not disrupt or threaten the lives of those inside?

Seeing all as image bearers destroys those borders, the things that hold us back from one another. It destroys the concept of ‘in and out’ and calls us to view all people as God does even if we disagree with them. Let’s allow that to shape how we view others and therefore how we interact with them.

Pray

Jesus, help us to view others as image bearers and help us to destroy the borders, both near and far, that enable us to keep others at a distance, outside of our circle.

Frank