If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favour. Voltaire
The futility of idolatry is worshipping something far less than we give it credit for.
Imagine your two year old daughter getting some crayons and doing their version of Mummy and Daddy, then showing it to you. The standard reaction is one slightly patronising but nevertheless encouraging the child that their efforts are noted.
It would be bizarre if we were to then take their picture and seriously appreciate it for its unerring accuracy in reflecting exactly who Mummy and Daddy are.
It would get even more weird, if after we hailed the masterpiece by the two-year old we went on to see all things reflected in the perspective of that drawing.
It would be weird, because for starters with the best effort in the world, that two year old, however much of a prodigy she may be, is not going to put together a perfect replica of Mummy and Daddy. Further still, even in the most highly unlikely circumstances that such a replication were possible – it is but a drawing. A two-dimensional static image of a multi-dimensional, dynamic function creation of God.
The whole exercise would be ridiculous and futile and worthy of our scorn and disdain.
And yet …
It’s arresting to think that sometimes in an effort to make Jesus someone I can relate with more, I suddenly go about rendering him in my own image.
Once He is put in a manner that is pleasing to me, because it reflects so much of me, I go around parading this picture as the real thing and base my life on it. In reality I’m just affirming myself as the ultimate definition of reality at my best. When I’m less than my best, I shrug it off as just one of those things and I’ll be back to tip-top condition soon – which won’t be hard, because the standard is one that I’ve set up for myself.
Rather than following the true and living Jesus declared throughout Holy Scripture and seated at the right hand side of God, I would rather chill out with a Jesus of my own making.
It is no surprise that my life then becomes somewhat unproductive in the things of the Spirit. It is no shock that the many great things attributed to the life of Christ are somewhat missing in my own life.
He is no longer the Lord of my life. He is now the life I project to be the ideal I long for.
That is a tragic occurrence on an individual scale. You can imagine how much more that is the case when it is on a corporate scale. When it becomes embedded in the traditions and conventions of church gatherings. When Jesus is a symbol of capitalism or socialism, when He is the pioneer for Republicans or Democrats, when He gives the stamp of approval to fundamentalists with their rules, or He is the laissez-faire who enables liberals to live without moral compass.
It is sad when what matters is when Jesus is black or blonde and blue-eyed, effeminate superstar or macho man’s man.
It is no wonder that the witness is compromised. It is no shock that the fruits of those labours rot for the lifeless efforts they are. It is no surprise that gatherings of believers are lifeless, fruitless parodies of what it is to live for Christ.
I am glad that God in Christ shared the human experience and is now a High Priest who can empathise with those human issues and can relate to us. I am glad for that. I am glad He knows what it is to be rejected, scorned and misunderstood. I am glad He knows what it is to be in the minority, to be marginalised and to be the victim of the juggernaut of the status quo.
I am also glad that He is Lord of all. I am glad that those who called to follow Him do so on His terms and conditions. They are called to follow Him for who He declares Himself to be through His Word and His Body. That portrayal of who He really is, should not always be comforting. His demands on the life of a disciple were far more exacting than those of the rule-keepers. It should not always be consoling, because it goes against our pride, and those things that we may have got comfortable about.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on the way, while we do His good will, He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. The obedience aspect puts things in their proper place. Jesus came not t be subject to our projections of Him. He came to serve, and establish Himself as the Lord and to Him our lives are shaped, it is in His image we are being re-shaped. That happens as we trust Him and obey Him, rather than expect Him to live up to our cultural and personal values.
Consider what is your picture of Christ. Where does it come from? Who shapes it, and develops it? as you do so remember, He is the Potter, we are the clay. Let’s not forget that, however good our drawings of Him maybe.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 