My friend Jack read one of these posts and said something like "so if you want to see God, why not look in the mirror?" I thought he was being funny, because he has a wacky sense of humor, and sometimes he thinks he's God, but he was serious. "Hey, we're supposed to be made in the image of God, so shouldn't you see peace, patience, love and all those things, in the mirror?" Hmmm... Well, what if he's right?
After all, Genesis 1:26 starts off with "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness." So how are we made in God's image and likeness? From all I've studied, it's by being relational persons, and having the ability to make decisions. (Certainly not from being approximately the same size and shape as God!) So indeed, Jack could be right -- if we are made in the image of God, then the "peace, patience, love and all those things" that are aspects of God's character should show up in us.
Except, well, our first parents messed things up. Their minds and lives became filled with anxiety, impatience, hatred and a lot of other negative selfish traits, instead of the good ones. We've all ended up following them, down through the generations. Except for Jesus. Paul explains in Romans 5:12 "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." But Paul continues by explaining God didn't leave us in death, comparing Adam with Jesus in several different ways. Then in verse 18 he says "Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone." Over in 2 Cor. 5:17, Paul continues the thought, saying "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! "
Paul used that phrase "in Christ" about 90 times in his letters. I looked it up in the Greek. It means "in Christ." Like, inside of, part of, living in. So the way it's supposed to work is, Christ pours into us his love for us, his love for others, his "peace, patience, love and all those things." He creates those expressions of his love in us, so we can "bear much fruit" as he said in John 15. But then there are the days we don't feel like it's working; when nothing turns out right and we respond like a "sore-toothed bear" as my mom used to say. What's up with that? We're still "in Christ" -- but those days, we're paying more attention to what's going on outside of us than who we're inside of.
How do we make it work? We have to surrender to the mind of Christ in us. In Philippians 2:5 Paul writes "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had" then goes on to describe Christ's humility and other-centered serving in his human life. The Son of God gave up everything to come live with us. We have to give up our self-centered thinking, in order to live in him and let him put his peace in us.
And that's when the image in the mirror turns out to be God after all!
I think your friend Jack is right on target! Aren't we to display the attributes of the Samaritan in Luke 10 every day of our life? Impossible on our own, but with Christ living in us all things are possible. However there are days when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed (so to speak) and I still find it hard and not sure how to handle the "sore-tailed bear" when it's growling at me.
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