Embracing the Image

I have an image to embrace.

This is not the image of the perfect dad, or the cool tech dude, or the hip and relevant pastor (I’ve got the sweet goatee for that one).  I’m not talking about the image of the wise sage (long ways to go) or the almost-40-trying-to-feel-like-he’s-20 guy.  I’m not talking about the beautiful image of my wife (which I love to embrace).

This image is WAY bigger than that.

I’m talking about the image that I was created to live in: the image of God.

Okay, this may be a little theologically deeper than most of my posts, but if you’re willing to stick with me, I think you’ll find there’s something for you here too.

I’ve been preaching about the life of Moses for the last 2 months.  Here’s a few sentences of context (I bet my congregation would have liked me to do 2 months of sermons in 4 sentences).  Moses’ mom broke the “kill the baby boys” law and put him in a basket in the royal bathing spot on the Nile.  Moses was found by one of Pharaoh’s daughters and raised in the royal Egyptian family.  At the age of 40, Moses kills an Egyptian (possibly to prove himself to his Hebrew people) but is identified and flees several hundred miles to Midian territory, where he restarts his life.  At the age of 80, God met Moses by speaking to him in the form of a burning bush (yeah, pretty strange).

In that burning bush conversation, God tells Moses that He wants Moses to go back to Egypt and rally the Hebrew people. Moses asks God “If they ask me who sent me, what should I tell them?”

God tells Moses his name when He says “Tell them I AM has sent you to me.”

This is the first time in Biblical history where God gives his name.  Most Bibles have the phrase “I AM”, but the more accurate translation — yes, I’m going all pastor-geeky here for a minute — (with the correct grammatical verb tense) is…

he who causes to be

He who causes to be.

When asked to give a definition of Himself, God says that he is the one that creates.  He doesn’t mention his power, or his love, or his goodness, or his justice, or his faithfulness.  He states that he creates.

Let’s take a step back on book in the Bible to Genesis.  In the creation story, God says that he made man in His image (or His likeness).

When I’ve taught on this “image of God” concept (or had it taught to me), I’ve explained how we all have character traits of God in us: love, mercy, bravery, compassion, justice, truth, honesty, joy, gentleness.  That’s not wrong, but what if …

what if…

What if God created us to be more than people that strive to be better people?  more loving… more merciful… more brave…

What if he created us …. to be creators.

That was God’s first self-stated identity.  If we were created in his image, maybe we need to embrace his first image, that reality, that identity… as creators.

Creating homes, building things, writing books, creating art, growing food, making music, starting business, creating communities, building legacies.

And not just tinkering… but purposefully building great, significant things.

Not because we think we’re amazing or that we think we should, but because we were created to create.

For me, embracing that image requires complete surrender to it.  That means…

• turning off Facebook and the other time-wasters in my life and focusing on what God created me to do (and to be).
• listening to, and pursuing, those little (but big) ideas that have been planted in my brain, but “practical” life says are not worth the effort.
• taking risks that other people may criticize me for.

As I process through all of this, it sounds sorta crazy… but as I’ve spoken to several people about it… I’m not the only one feeling the call to create.