19 Jun 2013
Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20 #1
Author: Bobby Valentine | Filed under: Bible, Colossians, Discipleship, Exegesis, Jesus, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines
For the next few days I will be offering a series of short meditations on the Christ Hymn in Colossians 1. It is my prayer that they be helpful …
He is the IMAGE
of the invisible God
the firstborn of all creation (1.15)
Facebook. YouTube. Pinterest. Tumbler. Instagram. How many followers? How many “likes?” Ours is a culture, more than ever before, that is obsessed with the word “image.”
We all post on at least one of these social media outlets most of us more than one, and some probably all of them. We want people to see that we have an interesting life. That we have it together. That we have our mojo on. That we have our game together. What we do not do is post bad pictures of ourselves. We avoid those certain angles. We untag ourselves in those pix that a friend graciously put online that are funny but uncomplimentary.
The Bible tells us that God is just as concerned about his “image” as we are of ours. The images that so many have of him do not actually come from his own Facebook account. People often tag him in a status or picture that is not him at all. The false pictures show up repeatedly in the “Old Testament” when people would create images of God. God calls such false pictures idolatry. Thus Israel was forbidden making images of the Lord in any fashion or any form. We did not listen and kept making false pictures of God.
God’s reply to all humanity is this: If you want to know who I am, if you want to know what I look like, if you want to know how I think … here is the “image” of myself so you can know. That image is Christ.
He is the IMAGE of the invisible God. When God took his iPhone or Droid and took a picture of himself and posted it on FB, or istagram, what was uploaded was Jesus. What this means is that what you know about Jesus you also know about God. Jesus, as the Image of God, tells you what God is like. Pictures of Jesus are “images of God.”
Musings: Recall the IMAGES of Jesus that you know. Write down those images. What do those images tell you of God?
PrayerThought
End your time this morning thanking God for the Images of himself that he has given us in Jesus. Commit to the him that you will spend more time looking at his Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler and Pinterest accounts. They have the names: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
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