Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26 NIV)
What does it mean for human beings are made in God’s Image? It means we are creatures of God, we belong to Him. It means God distinguishes humans from all other creatures; it is what makes us human. J.I. Packer writes, ‘This is what the Bible means when it tells us that God made man in his own image – namely, that God made man a free spiritual being, a responsible moral agent with powers of choice and action, able to commune with him and respond to him, and by nature good, truthful, holy, upright: in a word, godly.’
[Since I want to talk about what does the image of God related or effect to our prayer, I might as well just focus on this subject.]
Made by His Image enable us ‘to commune with him and respond to him’ This mean that in the beginning man can talks, converse or communicate freely with God face-to-face without boundaries. ‘And let them rule’ places us as His agent, God’s representative to rules over the rest of His creations. But as you know in Genesis 3 by the fall of man, sin had entered the scene and thus had hindered us from having this special communion with Him. The image of God has not been lost as a result of sin, but sin had distorted us from seeing God’s purpose for our life that is to pray, worship and serve our Creator effectively.
But you know God in the Bible, with all due respect, doesn’t sit down drink coffee and let His masterpiece ‘lost contact’ with Him. No! He redeemed man through his son, Jesus, who is the complete revelation of what the image of God is. He is the full image of God, and he is the one person whose humanity was never spoiled by sinning. In Christ, man regains his original position, and the church, abiding in Christ, inherits the promise: ‘Ask what ye will and it will be done unto you.’
What sin is destroyed, Grace has restored,What the first Adam lost, the second has won back,What we couldn’t do by ourselves, God had done it for us!
Andrew Murray in his classic book, With Christ in the School of Prayer (which is my reference for this series) writes, “It is God’s purpose that the fulfillment of His eternal purpose and the coming of His Kingdom should depend on His people… as God’s image bearer and representative on earth, redeemed man has the power to determine the history of this earth through his prayers.”
By restoring His image on those who believe in the saving power of God through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ on the cross, our weakness and sinfully tainted nature of prayer is justified by Him. Jesus had shows us that to be created in the image of God is to be created to pray.
Come, Christians, you who are redeemed – pray, for this is your destiny, to serve for God’s Kingdom, to have rule over the nations, and to make the Name of God glorious on the earth. This is the power of Prayer. We are belonging to God and prayed to God is what we were created for.
References:
1. Introducing Christian Doctrine 2nd Edition by Millard J. Erickson (Baker Book House, 1992, 2001)
2. Knowing God by J.I. Packer (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 1975)
3. Prayer and the Knowledge of God by Graeme Goldworthy.
4. Zondervan NIV Study Bible.
all of us are stewards of God's creation...
ReplyDeletemay i suggest that after every post, you include a prayer...thanks
Thank you for suggestion, Anonymous. :)
ReplyDelete