How many puzzles were you able to solve before having to look at the answers? Now let's consider the following question. How does the style of puzzles we just solved relate to the "Image of God" and how have we been made in the image of God?
Each puzzle represented a primary saying or word that we were familiar with and yet the puzzle was presented in a diffrent manner that represented the same saying. We are created in the image of God and yet we are not God. We are His creation. We have things about us that make us like God.
From the word puzzles that we just solved, God is like the answer to the puzzle and we are like the puzzle because the puzzle expresses a likeness to the answer just like we were made in a likeness to God. For example, when we saw "cyclecyclecycle," we figured out the answer was "tricycle." Cyclecyclecycle" is not the answer itself, but is an "image" of the answer. Similarly, we are not God, but we are made in the image of God.
Let's review some of the various characteristics, or images, of God listed below:
Loving
Patient
Good
Faithful
Gentle
Jealous
Kind
Severe
These are characteristics of God and yet we can each cite a way in which we can implement these characteristics into our own lives through our thoughts and actions. We can each be a reflection of God by implementing these characteristics into our lives. When we do this, we are living in God's image and others around us will begin to see God through us just like we could see the answer to the puzzles through another image.
Since we have been made in God's image, we probably ought to get to know God so that we know who we have been made like. Therefore, let's keep in mind the following three questions:
Do I Know God?
Do I live my life in His Image?
Am I in God's Family?
For any of us who have taken a language class, what is one of the first phrases that we are taught to learn in that language?
We are taught to say:
"My name is _________" or "I am _________."
And that is where we are going to start in our venture of getting to know God. What is God's name? Moses basically asked God this question. Let's review the story and read (in a narrative style) how God answered Moses' question in Exodus 3:7-15:
Narrator: Then the Lord told Moses
God: "You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt, into their own good and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. The cries of the people of Israel have reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians have oppressed them with heavy tasks. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
Moses: "But who am I to appear before Pharaoh? How can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"
God: "I will be with you. And this will serve as proof that I have sent you: When you have brought the Israelites out of Egypt, you will return here to worship God at this very mountain."
Moses: "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you', they won't believe me. They will ask, 'Which god are you talking about? What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?"
God: "I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS. Just tell them I AM has sent me to you. Tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your ancestors - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you.' This will be my name forever; it has always been my name, and it will be used throughout all generations."
From the above narrative, what was the answer to Moses' question, "What is God's name?"
God told Moses that His name was "I AM." He said, "I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS."
God's answer to Moses should lead us to think about what God's name says about Himself. Let's consider God's answer, "I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS."
The words "I AM" conclude that God exists and that He is a being with an identity.
The word "ALWAYS" teaches us that God has existed from infinity past to infinity future.
The words "ALWAYS IS" verifies that God is always in the present.
The various words, "I," "ONE," and "WHO" introduce us to a God who is a unique being that we can communicate with and relate to.
Now that we know God's name, "IAM," what does that have to do with us? Well, remember the questions that we asked above? The first was "Do I know God?" Usually we don't really know someone until we know his or her name. Before reading about this common word "Image," did you know that God's name is "I AM?" If not, I would like to introduce you to the God who created the universe. His name is "I AM."
In everyday life, we are introduced to people. Do we pursue a friendship or relationship with everyone that we are introduced to? The answer is obviously no, but we do choose whose lives that we will be involved with. My question is now that you have been introduced to God and He has told you His name, will you choose to be involved and associated with Him? Let's ask the question another way in the form of another word puzzle.
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