Twas the night before _ _ _ _ _ _mas, and all through the house...

I would like to start this off by stating that I am not a cynic and I love Christmas.  I know that the caveat may cause some apprehension but I hope that my point in this is understood as my subjective understanding of what the holiday has become.  With that said, let's begin. 

Ah, Christmas time is upon us.  Once again there will be told tales of Frosty the Snowman and cups of warm cocoa accompanied by Bing Crosby’s sonorous voice playing through the speakers in every vehicle, home, and store, whether strip-mall or mega-mart, in America. The Night Before Christmas will be read to our children, stockings will be hung, and peppermint flavored candies and chocolates will be purchased en masse.  Soon we shall go shopping for our dear ones, young and old alike. 

 

We are scheduled to donate our canned goods to the homeless shelter, for those who are less fortunate than us.  We welcome with open arms the cozy feel and seductive crackle of the fires sitting under our chimneys.  Snow has fallen, laying out a vast white carpet to usher in red-tag sales as millions of homes are preparing feasts for their families.  It is time for us to spend some of our hard earned money and indulge in a bit of that consumerism that the conservatives are always harping against.  It is time for all this and more.

 

 It is time to not address Tom’s drinking problem because we are supposed to celebrate this time of year with a glass or two.  Let him have the whole bottle. Tis’ the season!  We should pretend not to notice that Janet kissed her boss for a lot longer than her husband.  That was just the eggnog and mistletoe.  Rough combination I suppose. Let us enjoy our glazed ham and roasted turkeys and forget the worries of others.  After all, we made our donations to the food banks.  What else do they want us to do?

 

We must embrace the joy of the season because it is so foreign to us in our everyday lives.  Let the unwrapping of the bribes to our family members of jewelry, cars, and ipods commence, since we haven’t been the father, mother, daughter, or son we should have been.  Don’t forget to wave to our neighbor who lost her husband to Alzheimer’s last month and is dealing with cancer as she sets up decorations for her first holiday alone.  She is 80 after all; she’s had a good run.  Yes, it is time to bask in the material while trying to convince each other that this is what the season is all about. 

 

It is time to stand up against the liberals who don’t want us to have our manger scenes as we forget who was in the manger, and why.  It is time to forget the God who left the glory of heaven to become a man and give us a way to save us from ourselves.  It is time to forget Jesus.  A crown of thorns and bloodied hands are much less attractive than elves with pointed hats and Jolly-Ole-Saint-Nick.

 

But this is a season.  In but a breath or two the songs will go silent, the decorations will be taken down, and when the snow melts we will be unavoidably brought back to the harsh reality of our lives.  Faced with the issues of our lives head-on, we will pray to the God whom we recently ignored.  We will ask for God to do whatever it is that He does, reaching into His bag-of-tricks to bring us the answer to our circumstances.  We seek the aid of a God that we only desire a relationship with when we feel the need to.  And, if we survive our hardship we put an extra five in the offering plate when we go on Easter Sunday, maybe.  But that is then, this is now.  Ah, _ _ _ _ _ _ mas time is upon us.

Mirror, Mirror, on The Wall...

What is the Imago Dei and where can it be found?

Has anyone noticed that the shelves of bookstores, Christian and secular alike are so saturated with self-help material that there seems as if nothing else is being published?  Why do we need Chicken Soup for Our Souls?  Why do we need to be told that Self Matters?  Do human beings need to hear these things at all?  What about Christians?

 

            There is some merit in leisurely reading self-help books, however, the merit lies only within volume’s that reveal what is inside of us and how miraculous and wonderful it truly is.  The previous statement may seem like New-Age jargon, but it is not.  The remainder of this essay will hopefully exemplify the uniqueness that each and every person embodies.

 

            Firstly, you are special just as I am special.  So is everyone else you have ever met.  While, most certainly, we all have our quirks and eccentricities we do have one thing in common.  We are created in the image of God, the Imago Dei.  We know this by the words of God himself in Gen. 1:26-27.  These truth is stated twice more in the book of Genesis at 5:1-2, 9:6-7.  These is not purely a Jewish premise as 1 Cor. 11:7 and James 3:9-10 additionally affirm the creation of humans in the image of God.

 

            This creation applies to all of mankind, male and female.  We are created in the image of God, but what does that mean?  Can we know?  There have been numerous articles, essays, books, and other literature on this topic.  How then can we decide which theory is more probable?  As Scripture is always the best guide, let it be the guide.

 

            As creations of God, we are unique and possess dignity.  This is apparent by the punishment that God has placed upon the murder of one human by another in Gen. 9:6.  While we are image bearers of God, we are not perfect image bearers.   The image of God has already been perfected in Christ.  Heb. 1:3 and Col. 1:15 inform us that while man is created in the image of God, Jesus is the image of God.

 

            Continuing in this mindset, what do humans possess that the rest of creation does not?  Human bodies?  That is not likely as God is Spirit and humans were created before the incarnation of Jesus, so created in his physical likeness is not a strong argument either.  Is it our ability to have dominion over the rest of creation?  That is a stronger hypothesis, but seems to be lacking.  Dr. John Hammett of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary states his belief thus, “I believe that the image of God is the capacity of human beings to have a relationship with God.”  Of all the many theories espoused, this one seems most likely.

 

            Nowhere else in all of creation does a similar relationship exist.  This is exemplified in the sending of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:9-11 offers support for this.  This interpretation, that our relationship defines our uniqueness, transcends the science and cynicism of modernity.  If it could be shown that natural systems exert dominion, the image of God remains untouched.  If it could be shown that animals have some of the same though processes and abilities to cognitively reason on a higher level than predicted, the image of God remains safe.  Humans, and humans alone, are the image bearers of God in this world.  Anything other, created by God or made by man, that is said to be an image bearer of God is idolatrous in the extreme.

 

Now that the “what” has been answered, and the “how” has been addressed in a previous essay, practical aspects need to be assessed.  As image bearers of God, each person should seek to honor that image.  Each person should seek to continually conform to that image.  When we become Christians, the process of sanctification, the conforming of ourselves to the image of Christ begins.  It begins to repair the damage done to our image by the result of our Fall.

 

As we must keep in mind that we are created in God’s image we must do so with humbleness.  That God, who is perfectly holy, good, just, and sovereign, would seek to have fellowship with a sinful creation is incomprehensible in the realm of logic.  Furthermore, not only did God seek us out in our sin and open our eyes to his majesty, he also became a sacrifice for our sins.

 

Additionally, we must remember that every other person is likewise created in the image of God.  All are created with the Imago Dei, the saved and lost, those we love and dislike.  Those whom know the salvation of Jesus are being conformed to his image, the image of God.  Those whom have not, those who have rejected God’s revelation are turning the image of God into an abomination, an act that has terrible end with everlasting consequences.  C.S. Lewis’s statement was apt when he commented,

 

It is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature, which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.  All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.  It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics…It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.

 

While there will likely be no end to the self-help blitz in literature, there will hopefully be an awakening in the Church as to the potential for splendor and majesty that each Christian possesses, which will be fulfilled in our resurrected forms in Heaven.  It must be understood that you cannot have Your Best Life Now, without acknowledging who you truly are.  This understanding of creation should keep the focus on the sacredness of all life and should be taken into account in issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and abuse.  Through dedication to a life of prayer and discipline we may grow ever more sensitive to the image of God and shine the light of God to those around us.  Let it not be forgotten that to know God is the archetypal aspect of humanity, because we are created in God’s image, by God and for God.