Distracted by a non-issue

God graciously explains the struggles of last week. He reveals that I was concerned about a “what if?” instead of something that was actually happening. The distraction was: “If you do all that God says, the enemy will constantly attack and you will be in a joy-destroying battle until the end of your days. To avoid such misery, you need to choose what you will do.”

This reminds me of a friend who wanted to go to the mission field with the caveat that where she was sent didn’t have a lot of big insects and other crawling critters. She soon learned that loving others meant dropping personal preferences!

Yesterday’s sermon was about cultivating love. The application: 1. Cultivate community…reach out to lonely people, go bless someone else. 2. Practice generosity. It is always a greater joy to give than receive. Besides, generosity is an act of worship. 3. Contemplate God’s love and be driven to gratitude. (There is even an app to help that!) Remember why I am here.

This made me think about my anxiety and realize I was supposing and fearful rather than facing any issues in faith. God was not asking me to do something difficult or make a great sacrifice, nor was the devil trying to stop me from any direct command. Fighting an imaginary war is like a nightmare; not real but still feels as if it is — for a shot time.

Today’s readings describes the wisdom of God in making Jesus our Mediator. He is fully God and fully man, not distant from either, near to both in nature, possessing all of both except without sin.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15–16)

Jesus had a nature to be compassionate to us and victorious for us, to pity us and be patient to bear with us. If he had been only God, he would not have had an experimental sense of our misery; and if he had been only man, he could not have vanquished our enemies; had he been only God, he could not have died; and had he been only man, he could not have conquered death.

The justice of the law had been honored by man’s sufferings, but in Christ the holiness and equity of the law had been honored by man’s obedience. Charnock writes that the life of our Savior is a conformity to the precept, and his death is a conformity to the penalty. The transgression of the law was condemned in the flesh of the Redeemer, and the righteousness of the law was fulfilled in His person, and imputed to the believing sinner.

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3–4)

As he died for us, and rose again for us, so he lives for us. His work is finished and now I can rest in it and not worry about anything. Worry is pride in action. That is why God says…

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7)

Today’s devotional says that our anxieties refer to “distraction of mind” but God’s care signifies “fixation of mind.” This speaks to me and my ADHD, mild as it is but a target for the enemy! He uses it on me far too often. However, this verse helps…

You keep (her) in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because (she) trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

PRAY: Jesus, this experience was something like a vivid bad dream, so vivid that it seems real after waking up and requires strong self-talk to quiet the emotions. The enemy hits my mind like that, producing vivid emotions. He hits my body too, but You are in my mind and have given me the will and a stronger desire to love and serve You. The cost of obedience cannot destroy any of my new life. It simply points to the reality that I belong to You and am Your child, and even my body is in Your total care and protection. Not my will but Thine be done.

Seeing His Likeness

 

Some years ago a certain entertainer stood on a beach, threw her hands in the air, and declared, “I am God.”

Apparently, she fell for the same line that a certain snake said to another woman standing in a garden. The snake suggested, “You will be like God knowing good and evil” and that woman thought this was a good idea. She forgot, or ignored, or did not realize that she had been created in the image of God, or if she did, she didn’t think that was good enough.

Genesis 1:26. Then God said, “Let us make man (general term for humankind) in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Before thinking of the implications of her decision, I’m thinking of the wonder of being created in the image of God. Note that He uses plural words to describe Himself. The Scriptures brings out that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perhaps a hint that we are like Him in that we are body, soul, and spirit. Aside from that thought, the above verse says He gave humanity dominion or authority over the world and we share in a smaller way the dominion of God over all creation. Another suggestion is in the “Let us make . . .” is that the godhead is creative and communicates with one another. We are and do that as well.

We also have the capacity to think, feel emotion, make decisions, to love and hate, to know God even, all because we are like Him. Yet there is nothing in the entire Bible that says He is like us. The decision to “be like God” by doing the only thing God forbid has smeared that likeness. Our sin has made a muddled mess that distorts His image in us into a faint idea of what it should be.

The OT word for LIKENESS is used in many ways. It can denote a simple comparison, an image or pattern, a shape or figure, even an audible similarity. It is used in Ezekiel’s visions of unfamiliar forms and shapes that he tried to compare with things he knew. The inspired writers of those OT books give clues in their word choices, yet God is not visible and humanity is muddied up with sin, meaning we struggle to understand what God is like.

The NT offers a better way to know what God is like — the Son became one of us! This member of the godhead “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7–8) His reason for this was to deal with sin and clear it away so God’s image can shine in us as God intended! Romans 8:3–4 says more about this process:

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

The NT word for likeness can refer to “a similarity, a likeness.” It describes the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. By taking on the likeness of humanity, Jesus took on mere human appearance but unlike us, He was sinless and therefore uniquely human, unmarred and perfect.

Not only that, He revealed what God is like. Hebrews 1:3 declares, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature . . . .”

Even so, that certain snake is still at work. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Without faith, we cannot see Him as sinless, the perfect sacrifice who died bearing our sin and who rose from the dead defeating sin and death and making salvation available to all. Instead, those who are blinded make themselves god of their own lives. Some are deceived to think that they are god.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I cannot see God nor fully understand what He looks like, but through the words of those inspired by His Spirit, I can see Him in Jesus Christ and in those who are forgiven and cleansed, who walk in the Spirit and deny their old fleshy nature. None of us are God, but we bear His likeness and my greatest desire is that I can bring Him glory by letting His likeness shine through my life. As 2 Corinthians 4:11 explains, “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”