Genesis
1:27 "So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them."
John
4:24
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth."
So God has no image. He cannot be
seen by the human eye, but creation points
to His existence. His Son, Jesus testified
to His existence and desire to be sought by
His creatures. He also provided us with an
example of how to live our lives seeking and
serving God.
If men and women are created in
Gods' image and then John
4:24
states that God is a Spirit. What is the
image that we are created in? What is meant
by they "must" worship Him in Spirit and
truth?
If we take time to look at
everything around us in our world that God
has made we will see that God is an
incredible artist. His creativity has no
boundary. When we look at the
accomplishments of men and women we also can
see awesome creativity. Not nearly as
complex or perfect as God has done but never
the less we can see some of the "image" that
is referred to in Genesis. As I said God is
complex but yet very simple. That is part of
the beauty of God. He is very straight
forward and transparent but supreme in
intelligence and beauty at the same time. So
supreme that we can not even get close to
His level yet He encourages us to have a
personal relationship with Him. Awesome!
When God created man and woman he
built some of that complexity into His
creation. If we take time to understand John
4:24 where it states we must worship God in
spirit and truth we can see what that really
means. I believe this is something that
needs to be taught in the churches today but
I will wait and get to that meaning later.
The word psychology comes from the
ancient Greek,
psyche ("soul," ) and
-ology,
"study"). Think about it! The study
of the soul. Most modern psychologist do not
know that.. This is what happens when man
takes God out of any equation and places
himself in a position claiming self reliance
and independence from God. Sounds like too
much education could be very damaging to
your spiritual life doesn't it? That's
another subject for us to discuss later.
When God made man he built
into him everything he needed for him to
survive through his life. He built into him
a way to attain love, happiness, peace, a
sense of accomplishment, and so on. In short
man (and woman) were given the opportunity
to become co-creators with God. They have
all they need to create their own worlds as
God had created His universe. Think back to
God in creation. In Genesis He spoke the
world into existence. The words "God Said"
were used nine times in Genesis chapter 1
during the creation process. Now I want to
think about the significance of that. If God
created man in His image, and if God spoke
His world into existence, then I would guess
that words hold great power for God and man.
Check these verses out!
Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in
the power of the tongue; and they that love
it shall eat of the fruit thereof."
Pretty
powerful stuff!
Corinthians 10:5 says,
"Casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing captive every
thought to the obedience of Christ." Sounds
like a slam on gossip. Let me add to that
Dave's definition of gossip. Gossip: A sin
described as detestable to God as murder but
one that that most Pastors do not have the
courage to deal with. Pardon me, just
speaking as a victim from experience.
In
James 3:6, the Bible says that the tongue is
"a fire, a world of iniquity", and James 3:8
calls the tongue a "deadly poison."
Proverbs 25:18 says, "A man that beareth
false witness against his neighbour is a
maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow." So a
lying tongue is a misuse of a deadly weapon.
It can be used to harm others near at hand
(a maul), a few feet away (a sword), or a
great distance away (an arrow). Satan is the
father of lies (John
8:44),
and God said that he hates a lying tongue
(Pro.
6:17).
All liars will have their part in the lake
of fire, according to Revelation 21:8.
"For there is no faithfulness in their
mouth; their inward part is very wickedness;
their throat is an open sepulcher; they
flatter with their tongue." (Psalm 5:9)
Psalm 12:3-4 says, "The LORD shall cut off
all flattering lips, and the tongue that
speaketh proud things: Who have said, With
our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our
own: who is lord over us?" The most annoying
Christians in the world are those with proud
tongues because a proud tongue usually comes
with two closed ears!
Proverbs 25:23 and Romans
1:30
make mention of a backbiting tongue.
A
backbiter is someone who uses their tongue
against you when you aren't present,
yet they will not face you with their
charges when you are present. (Do you
Recognize yourself here?) This is cowardly,
a backbiter would rather stir up problems
than solve problems.
A
backbiter would much rather talk ABOUT the
preacher than talk TO the preacher. A
backbiter would much rather talk ABOUT some
weak Christian in the church than offer some
words of encouragement TO them. A back biter
would gossip about another's blessing rather
then be happy in the fact that one
is blessed. A backbiter is of no use to
anyone, and no one has ever been
strengthened or edified through backbiting.
The backbiter is a destructive, power
seeking freak! I know several who have lost
jobs, homes, and securities in life itself,
because of this kind of tongue from these
people. In the past, One family that I know
of fell victim to the kind of people that
fit into this description, and it led them
to losing their job, their home, both at the
same time and then eventually felt forced to
leave their church because of the gossip
that was created. This was after having
given 20 years of faithful membership and
devoted service. But no one was willing to
stand up and stop the backbiters. What a
testimony to the power of the spoken word
and evil thoughts. In any case if you think
you may be a backbiter at all, ask for
forgiveness and repent.
It is obvious that the spoken word
holds great power. Where does that word come
from? I believe it comes from the mind or
soul. The process of thinking. That process
is also where our choices come from and so
now we can see that the real creative or
destructive force in our lives is our own
thoughts.
Could it be that God created us in such a
way that we too think our individual worlds
into existence? Is it possible that would be
one example of man & woman being created in
Gods' image? I believe it is undeniable.
Now back to psychology. With all
of this in mind it is easy to understand why
psychology originally was defined as the
study of the soul. That is until man took
God out of the study and replaced Him with
self reliant people who have way more
education then needed. (Man! I'm on a roll
here, LOOK OUT!) I believe that we as people
can understand more about ourselves and
others if we just take time to understand
the basics of Gods' creation. Like I said
earlier, God is straight forward and loves
to reveal to His children through
relationships. Next is defining Spirit and
truth. Until Later, Dave |