Created In The Image Of God

Soooo, I'm back from New Zealand; the birth place of many "Australian" movie stars and the alleged creators of the good old Australian Pavlova.

The trip was absolutely awesome, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say everyone had a great time and that we have all made friendships that will last forever!!

While I was in New Zealand I had the privilege of preaching at the Manukau Salvos. I spoke on the concept of being created in the image of God as is found in Genesis 1.

As I looked at this passage I saw 4 things that speak to being created in God's image.

First, I saw in this passage that we are each created. God actually took the time and deliberately made us. If God has created us this means that we are intimately known by God, check out Jeremiah 1:5. If God has taken the time to create us it means that we are no cosmic accident and that there must be some reason for our creation. This feeds into my second point

Second, I saw that we are created on purpose for a purpose. Have a look at the creation story in Genesis. Creation was deliberate and ordered, first cam night and day, then sky then land and sea, then the plants, the the sun and moon and stars, then came the sea creatures then animals and birds and finally, after all of this had been put in place came Humans. As I look at this I see that God was preparing creation for humanity, everything necessary for supporting life was put into place before God created us. As far as being created for a purpose, look at Genesis 1: . As I look at this passage I see that as humans we are tasked with taking care of the planet. But perhaps this is not the primary reason for creation. As I read the bible I am convinced that the true reason for our creation is to be in relationship with God. Read Joshua 24: 14 - 15, here we see God reaching out to the nation of Israel and calling them to choose life in relationship with Him. Our primary purpose in life should be to be in relationship with our creator.

Third, I see that we are created in the image of God. Each and every one of us have the potential to share the characteristics of God, characteristics such as justice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and most importantly; LOVE!!! But, while we have the potential and capacity to share the characteristics of God, we also have the opportunity to reject these characteristics and choose other characteristics such as hate, greed, malice, and selfishness; characteristics that are in sharp contrast with those of God. These characteristics can also have a significant effect on how we see others. If we adopt the character of God, we will begin to see others as being created in His image also. Read Matthew 25: 34 - 40, you can see here that Jesus is calling us to see each and every person as being created in the image of God. As I read the gospels I see many circumstances where Jesus saw people created in the image of His Father and treated them accordingly; there was the Samaritan woman, the Woman caught in adultery, the blind man, the paralytic lowered through the roof, the lame man near the pool and many, many more. In each of these circumstances Jesus saw the image of God in these people and treated them accordingly. Perhaps there is much we can learn from this??

The fourth thing that I noticed was that it is only after humans were created that God says that creation is very good, perhaps it is not too big a stretch to say that we are each very good.

Because of these 4 factors; that we are Created, On Purpose, For a Purpose, In the Image Of God, and that God sees us as being Very Good, is it too much to believe that we are each infinitely valuable in the eyes of God?

Look at John 3:16, it clearly states how valuable we are to God. We are so valuable to God that He became human and then died on the cross in one of the most excruciating deaths imaginable. Look at Acts 2 and 1st Corinthians 6:19, we are so valuable that God has chose us to be His temple, the place where He chooses to live.

Remember, in the Old Testament, God commanded that the Hebrew people create a giant tent where Gods presence could dwell among the people in a tangible sense. Then after the establishment of the nation of Israel God commanded Solomon to build the Temple as a place for Him to live among the people. But as the bible reminds us, the people of Israel abandoned God and as a result God's presence left the Temple, although God was never far away from those who would seek Him (check out Jeremiah 29: 12 - 13). But then in Acts 2, God's Spirit descends and dwells in the hearts of the Disciples and others as the Disciples spread the gospel. Surely, if God has chosen us over some ornate building, then we all must be of more value to God than most of us comprehend.

So I encourage you to see those around you as beings created in the image of the Creator. See their value, see your value and live lives as beings of infinite value to God!!!

UN4SAKEN

Only 6 more sleeps until I leave for New Zealand!!!

As I sit in my office and try to figure out when I can take my holidays this year, I see all of the events that are planned for this year. Summer Celebration is on again an will be held regionally in Torquay, Warrnambool and Kaniva. Fun for all of the family with some unique activities to be held at each event. Some of these activities are yet to be announced, but I can reveal that the innaugural Matthew 14:29 challenge will be held in Kaniva this year!! The basic idea of the Matthew 14:29 cahllenge is this: Each corps is to come to Summer Celebration at the Kaniva pool equipped with their device that will enable them to be like Peter in Matt. 14:29 and walk upon the water. The winner will be the person with the most 'faith', that is the person able to walk the farthest distance on the water down the pool. Competitiors will be considered 'sinking' when the water reaches a point above their knees or when their faith based walking appartus touches the bottom to the pool, or they require assistance from Jesus or any other form of rescue. Anybody who can make it the entire distance walking on the water from deep end to shallow end will win the opportunity to throw their much beloved DY, fully uniformed (Hat, Jacket, Shirt, Tie, Pants and Shoes), into the pool.

Challenges for the remaining Summer Celebrations are in their early formulative stages and more info will be out soon!!

Easter comes early this year, and that means that there isnt long to go until easter Camp is here also. The theme for this year is UN4SAKEN, and reminds us of Jesus' cry from the cross: "My god, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But also reminds us of the fact that God has promised to never leave or forsake us. Check out Psalm 22 when have the chance, the first line of the psalm is "My God, my God, why have you forskaen me?" But as you read on, something changes and towards the end we see that; "The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD..."

Sometimes, even when it feels like God isn't present or is a long way off, we need to remember that He is always with us, even if we cant feel His presence, and that even the poor in spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God!!

Something to think about before camp maybe??

God Is Nothing Like Santa

Well, today is my first official day back in the office for 2008.

Over the last few weeks I have been lucky enough to take some time off and spend it generally relaxing and doing very little. During this time a thought occured to me, I began thinking about how so many people see God as a Santa like figure.

As tradition goes, Santa is a jolly fat old man with a big white beard. Tradition also holds that Santa "... is making a list and checking it twice..." and is going to "...find out if you're naughty or nice." And it is based on this assessment of behaviour over the preceeding 12 months and your status on the 'Naughty' or 'Nice' lists that determines your suitability for presents at the coming Christmas delivery.

As I thought about this I realised that many people often view God as a Santa like figure. People see God as having a naughty and nice list that determines our rewards not only in eternity but also in this life.

People see God as the big bloke who brings you good stuff if you ask him and behave well enough to deserve what ever it is you're currently chasing after. But I'm not too sure that that is really the God that I know.

The God I know doesnt give out gifts based on worthiness, because if that were the case, we would all have nothing.

The God I know gives out gifts based on Love. God loves all of us, irrespective of whether we love, hate, or ignore Him, and because of this He has given us some of the greatest gifts anyone could ever offer. God has given us life, the first and possibly greatest gift we may ever receive. After that God gives us the gift of His Son Jesus. Through the gift of Jesus we receive further gifts of forgiveness and redemption. And from this point the gifts continue to grow and multiply. And the good news; the gifts of life, forgiveness and redemption are guaranteed to all of us, its just up to us to accept them!!

God has no list of naughty or nice, His love and gifts are not conditional on our listed status, and He actually forgets the 'naughty' stuff we do the moment we ask Him to.

So God is no Santa, but thats a good thing.

Who do you put your hope in; God or a fat jolly bloke with a long list??

The Young and The Hopeful

I originally posted this blog on the 2 Love Territorial blog I write for most Tuesdays, but i thought that it was worth posting here too:

I am constantly amazed at how God chooses to use the less than obvious choices of people to change the world!!

I had the privilege of travelling to Bendigo on Sunday night to preach at their Divisional Youth Service Fuel. As i was preparing what it was that I felt God wanted me to say to these young people, I realised again the number of times God used teenagers to transform the world.

Look at David, he was probably only 12 or 13 when he killed and decapitated the giant Goliath.

Think of Jesus' parents; both only teenagers and trusted to raise the Messiah (makes you think about unwed teenage mums a bit different huh??)!!

Think of the disciples, still only 16 or so when Jesus called them to take up their cross and follow Him (was Jesus the first full-time youth minister?).

Remember back to the early days of The Salvation Army... Back to when a young Bramwell Booth was taken into the pubs and shown the drunken hopelessness of those there, then taken to the bridge under which many homeless people spent the night and was told by his father to do something.

Do you remember the story of the 2 teenagers who decided to take the entire country of New Zealand for Jesus, 1 starting at the southern end the other at the northern end and planning to meet in the middle with over 10,000 people!!!

It occurs to me that God has often used the young, passionate, Spirit filled people of a generation to change their world.

Is this because these young people have not yet become jaded and cynical, because young people are still capable of seeing possibilities and opportunities where the more 'mature' person sees only problems and obstacles.

I leave you with the words of Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2: 12 - 16:
"Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers and example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Potent Potential

I have been reading the book Uprising, a Revolution of the Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus recently, and I was challenged when I read the chapter on potential. McManus talks about how so often we focus on sin being the stuff we did that we shouldn't have, and continues on to say that sin should also include the stuff we should have done that we didn't do.

To this end McManus talks about how God has gifted each of us differently and how we all have a unique potential inside of us that is completely different to anyone else.

In demonstrating this McManus points to Jesus' telling of the Parable of the talents in Matthew 25:
"It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money.

"After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

"The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

"The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'

"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest. Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'

McManus then goes on to say in the book:
There's so much talk about potential in our culture, as if it's the end-all of success. Has anyone ever said about you, "He has so much potential"? If you're under twenty - let's give you twenty-five - consider it a compliment. Potential your untapped or unlocked capacity. Potential- the hint of greatness not yet developed. "He has so much potential" - a statement of praise and maybe even adoration. And then you're thirty and still have all this potential. Pressing forty, and you're still full of potential. If you're forty five and someone looks at you and says, "You have so much potential," pause, excuse yourself, step into a closet, and have a good cry.
What once was a statement of praise is now an assessment of lost opportunity. There is a point where you're not supposed to be full of potential; you're supposed to be full of talent, capacity, product. Potential is a glimpse of what could be, yet there must be a shift from where we have potential to where we are potent
You're not supposed to die with your potential. A life well lived squeezes all the potential places within and does something with it. When potential is harnessed, we become potent. Potential, when it becomes potent, always produces results. We are born with potential, but we are called to live productive lives. The fool squanders his potential. He is not faithful with what has been given him. (p187)

So I guess that my prayer for you today is that you will see your potential fulfilled and I leave you with the question: "What are you going to do with the potential that is with in you, and when will you become potent?"

Connections

Thursday will mark the beginning of a very big weekend for The Salvation Army, not just in Melbourne, but right around the Australia Southern Territory!!

This year, in addition to the regular commissioning, ordination, appointment and sending out ceremonies, the Salvos are holding a big conference with lots of speakers covering a broard range of topics all related to The Salvation Army connecting with the communities around us.

This whole connections theme got me thinking...

Humans are social beings, admittedly some are more or less social than others, but we all depend on each other in some way or another.

We are all looking for ways to feel connected to others, some are positive ways, while others ways of seeking connection seem to do more damage or harm than they do good.

In the same way, I wonder whether some of our searching for connections with others is really a means of searching for a connection with God?

In Genesis 1: 18 we see that God acknowledges that it is not good for Adam to be alone, so He creates Eve to be Adam's companion. This is the first community, the first connection.

Later in Genesis chapter three we see the first in a long series of disconnections when Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

We see Adam and Eve and consequently all of humanity become disconnected from God from each other and from the earth they live on.

From this point on humanity has been seeking to reconnect. We have been seeking to reconnect of a spiritual level, we have been seeking to reconnect on a relational level and we have been seeking to reconnect on an environmental level.

Now admittedly not all people are seeking reconnection on all of these levels at the same time, but, if we are honest, we are all seeking connection in one way or another.

The good news is that God has made reconnection possible!!!

God became human, in the form of Jesus. God walked the earth as a human, grew up, went through all of the things that regular humans of His day went through, taught us the best way to live in connection with others, and then died inone of the most torturous barabic ways imaginable so that we might be able to connect with God in a personal way, without the need to present him animal sacrifices or go through a third party to speak and hear Him.

In what ways in your life are you seeking connection?

How connected are you?

How connected are you ready to be with God?

Something to think about.

I also just want to take the time to say good luck to the cadets and lieutennants who are being commissioned this weekend and let you know that you are being prayed for.

God Bless You All

The Desires Of Your Heart

What do you want?

Is there something that you really, really want??

What does your heart desire for??

I am reading the Psalms as part of my devotions at the moment (I think it might take me a while to get through them, God is teaching and speaking to me a lot through them) and as I read Psalm 21 I came across a concept that I have often heard Christians speak about, but wasn't sure exactly where it came from.

Verse 2 of Psalm 21 says: "You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips."

This reminded me of a conversation I had last week while catching up with the team that went to the National Youth Ministry Conference with.

We were talking about whether God really does give us the 'desires of our heart'.

So I wonder, does God actually give everyone the desires of their heart? And if God did give everyone the desires of their heart, what would the world be like?

(I'm thinking maybe something like in Bruce Almighty when Jim Carey's character say yes to every prayer he gets)

But as I looked at the Psalm and the verse again I realised something.

Look at verse 1: "In your strength the king rejoices. O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults!"

Before God grants any of the desires of this mans heart, first this man has accepted the strength of God and His help.

And then as I look in the fine print above the psalm I notice that this is recorded as being a Psalm of David.

You know the dude, King David, of David and Goliath fame, the man the bible calls "A Man After God's Own Heart".

So if God is granting the desires of David's heart, I wonder if they are really the desires of God's own heart??

Could this explain why not everyone get their hearts desire given to them??

Do you still trust in God even when you don't get exactly what it is that you want??

Check out verse 7 of Psalm 21: "For the king trusts the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High shall not be moved."

What occurs to me here is that even if David didn't get the 'desires of his heart' he would trust in God because David understood that god loved Him and that this love would not change.

There is still much that I am unsure of as far as the 'desires of your heart' thing goes, but this I am sure of: God loves me, and He died for me so that I can have a close relationship with Him, and that's enough.

What is it that your heart really desires for?

What is it that God desires for you to desire for?

Are they the same?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject, leave a comment, tell me what you think.