Trout
September 1st 2007, 02:01 PM
The Reflection
A Christian is to know God and a Christian is to know himself. We must know who this God is that we are approaching and we must know who we are that is approaching him. However, when we think about these concepts, we find it difficult to do either one of them.
Why is it hard to know God? It is because God is so far from us in who he is. It is like comparing a flea to an elephant. The transcendence of God makes it difficult for us to picture him. There is a reason some have said that the best we can say about God is what he is not.
Why is it hard for us to know ourselves? We cannot know ourselves for the opposite reason. We are too close to ourselves. We all color our views of ourselves in wrong ways be they good or bad. This is one reason we need friends who see us from the outside and are willing to tell us the truth about ourselves.
When we see both of these together, we realize that we have a problem. How is it that we can come to know this God if he is so far beyond us? How can we come to know ourselves if we are so close to ourselves? Is there any bridge to build over this chasm?
The Christian does have an answer. The only way we can know God is if he reveals himself in an intimate way close to us. The only way we can know ourselves is if we see our nature from a distance. The answer the Christian presents is in the person of Christ.
If you have any idea of deity that contradicts what you see in Christ, the Christian says you are wrong. If you have any idea of humanity that contradicts what you see in Christ, the Christian again says you are wrong. Christ is our revelation of who God is of course, but he is also the revelation of who we are to be.
Thus, we are to be more like Christ if we are to be fully human. The problem is that so many of us act inhuman. It has been said that to error is human and to forgive divine. Forgiveness is divine, no doubt, but if Christianity is true, sin is not human. It is inhuman. The one perfect human who ever lived did not sin.
Yet there is a mystery here. How can Christ be fully God and fully human? Do the two natures not contradict? The answer is not at all. In fact, we see a reason why this is so right in Genesis 1. We read in that passage that man is created in the image of God.
Do we have any reason to believe this refers to physicality? After all, orthodox Christianity denies that God is physical in his essential nature. Could this not indicate that we possess the communicable attributes of God though to a far lesser degree? Could it be that we are creative, rational, logical, powerful, intelligent, relational, etc.?
Could it actually be that when we are fully human, we reflect God perfectly? It does not mean we are God any more than the image I see in the mirror is me. It means that when God looks at us at that point, that he sees a perfect reflection of himself.
This is the joy of the Christian message. God does love us, but he loves us too much to leave us less than what we should be. The Christian gospel does not destroy our humanity. It gives it to us. We do not cease to be persons in Christ. We become complete persons in Christ.
So much of what we say is “human nature” is in fact just the opposite. It is sinful nature. Human nature is good. How could it not be? God created it. It is the falling away from that, the sinful nature, that causes us grief. The tragedy is that we are not living the human lives God intended us.
The Christian is to live a life where he is to know God as God is, but the Christian is to come as the Christian is meant to be. The Christian is meant to be fully himself or herself. They are not meant to be something else. We are not to be absorbed into God’s nature where we lose our identity. We are to remain ourselves and at the same time, fully reflect him.
Soren Kierkegaard once said, “And now Lord, with your help, I will become myself.” That is one of our goals. We are to find who we are meant to be. We are meant to walk as Jesus did and we cannot do that when we walk around as sinful human beings.
I do not think we will likely complete the journey on this side of eternity, but we are to aim for that. We are to live more in the ways we were designed to live. Sanctification could be described as the way God comes and cuts away from us everything that does not reflect him. In the end, we see that we are in the image of God, and in Scripture, Jesus is the image of God.
We can be sure this will happen as well. Romans 8:29 says that if we are foreknown, we will be conformed to the likeness of his Son. If you trust Scripture, then as unbelievable as it might seem, you can rest assured at this. You will walk as Jesus did one day. You will be conformed to his likeness one day. It is the Borg who say “You will be assimilated.” It is the Father who says “You will be conformed.”
There is a story about a group of ladies who were studying Malachi 3 once about how the silversmith refines silver. One lady went to see such a silversmith and watched him refine it. As she was leaving, the silversmith told her she might be interested in knowing how someone can tell the silver is pure. When she asked how, she was answered, “When I see my own reflection in it.”
Dear Christian. This is your calling. You are to walk as Jesus did, and rest assured, he will help you on the way. There will come a day when you will walk the streets of Heaven. You will fully reflect him and you will then truly be you. Christianity does not call you to live a half-life. It calls you to live a full and true life.
Notice – The articles featured in this section are guests of this site and very often not active members of debate forums. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.
A Christian is to know God and a Christian is to know himself. We must know who this God is that we are approaching and we must know who we are that is approaching him. However, when we think about these concepts, we find it difficult to do either one of them.
Why is it hard to know God? It is because God is so far from us in who he is. It is like comparing a flea to an elephant. The transcendence of God makes it difficult for us to picture him. There is a reason some have said that the best we can say about God is what he is not.
Why is it hard for us to know ourselves? We cannot know ourselves for the opposite reason. We are too close to ourselves. We all color our views of ourselves in wrong ways be they good or bad. This is one reason we need friends who see us from the outside and are willing to tell us the truth about ourselves.
When we see both of these together, we realize that we have a problem. How is it that we can come to know this God if he is so far beyond us? How can we come to know ourselves if we are so close to ourselves? Is there any bridge to build over this chasm?
The Christian does have an answer. The only way we can know God is if he reveals himself in an intimate way close to us. The only way we can know ourselves is if we see our nature from a distance. The answer the Christian presents is in the person of Christ.
If you have any idea of deity that contradicts what you see in Christ, the Christian says you are wrong. If you have any idea of humanity that contradicts what you see in Christ, the Christian again says you are wrong. Christ is our revelation of who God is of course, but he is also the revelation of who we are to be.
Thus, we are to be more like Christ if we are to be fully human. The problem is that so many of us act inhuman. It has been said that to error is human and to forgive divine. Forgiveness is divine, no doubt, but if Christianity is true, sin is not human. It is inhuman. The one perfect human who ever lived did not sin.
Yet there is a mystery here. How can Christ be fully God and fully human? Do the two natures not contradict? The answer is not at all. In fact, we see a reason why this is so right in Genesis 1. We read in that passage that man is created in the image of God.
Do we have any reason to believe this refers to physicality? After all, orthodox Christianity denies that God is physical in his essential nature. Could this not indicate that we possess the communicable attributes of God though to a far lesser degree? Could it be that we are creative, rational, logical, powerful, intelligent, relational, etc.?
Could it actually be that when we are fully human, we reflect God perfectly? It does not mean we are God any more than the image I see in the mirror is me. It means that when God looks at us at that point, that he sees a perfect reflection of himself.
This is the joy of the Christian message. God does love us, but he loves us too much to leave us less than what we should be. The Christian gospel does not destroy our humanity. It gives it to us. We do not cease to be persons in Christ. We become complete persons in Christ.
So much of what we say is “human nature” is in fact just the opposite. It is sinful nature. Human nature is good. How could it not be? God created it. It is the falling away from that, the sinful nature, that causes us grief. The tragedy is that we are not living the human lives God intended us.
The Christian is to live a life where he is to know God as God is, but the Christian is to come as the Christian is meant to be. The Christian is meant to be fully himself or herself. They are not meant to be something else. We are not to be absorbed into God’s nature where we lose our identity. We are to remain ourselves and at the same time, fully reflect him.
Soren Kierkegaard once said, “And now Lord, with your help, I will become myself.” That is one of our goals. We are to find who we are meant to be. We are meant to walk as Jesus did and we cannot do that when we walk around as sinful human beings.
I do not think we will likely complete the journey on this side of eternity, but we are to aim for that. We are to live more in the ways we were designed to live. Sanctification could be described as the way God comes and cuts away from us everything that does not reflect him. In the end, we see that we are in the image of God, and in Scripture, Jesus is the image of God.
We can be sure this will happen as well. Romans 8:29 says that if we are foreknown, we will be conformed to the likeness of his Son. If you trust Scripture, then as unbelievable as it might seem, you can rest assured at this. You will walk as Jesus did one day. You will be conformed to his likeness one day. It is the Borg who say “You will be assimilated.” It is the Father who says “You will be conformed.”
There is a story about a group of ladies who were studying Malachi 3 once about how the silversmith refines silver. One lady went to see such a silversmith and watched him refine it. As she was leaving, the silversmith told her she might be interested in knowing how someone can tell the silver is pure. When she asked how, she was answered, “When I see my own reflection in it.”
Dear Christian. This is your calling. You are to walk as Jesus did, and rest assured, he will help you on the way. There will come a day when you will walk the streets of Heaven. You will fully reflect him and you will then truly be you. Christianity does not call you to live a half-life. It calls you to live a full and true life.
Notice – The articles featured in this section are guests of this site and very often not active members of debate forums. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.