our worth: god's image

our worth: god's image

(just writing to a general audience this time)

If any two people could represent opposite ends of the spectrum, it's Debbie and I. I look at life, and go about my schedule in a random haphazard way. She approaches it with a steadfast order that rivals any administrator out there. I can make out the best laid plans, and charts, and yet within a day's time, be totally off the schedule. She struggles with seeing the whole overall plan, but excels in the details. She alphabetizes, organizes, and arranges items and schedules with an ease that amazes me. There isn't one area in my house, or life that runs by any sort of order or regularity. We are the true definition of opposites. I'm sure our names are under the examples of that word in the dictionary!

She has two children, and I have seven. Within those 9 humans we see 9 very different personalities and behaviors. Of course, there are similarities. The great minds of our times have come up with various ways to categorize personalities, and learning styles etc down to a workable few. But even with those limited combinations, there still are quite extreme opposites in the various ones. So what does it mean we are made in the image of God? Does God have a mulit-personality disorder? Ha, of course not! So, then what does it exactly mean?

{I'm not quite sure how to say this part.. so i'm going to ramble and edit it later!}

This is one of the most exciting 'discoveries' I have made this year. Who I am, not only the spiritual part, is a unique part of God's full personality. Debbie's tendencies, abilties, and personality is a representation of part of God's full personality. All of my randomness to the opposite pole of Debbie's orderlyness and everything inbetween make up the full personality of God. I do believe that's why he says to be a community; a body. Because when we split up, when we segregate, when we only fellowship with like minded people, we are missing out on part of who God is.

Think of it in terms of light. Shine a beam of light and you will see a just a plain, clear beam of light. Shine that same beam through a prisim and all of a sudden you see a rainbow. Use other means of looking at that light and you get an extreme array of colors ours eyes can see, and even more that we can't. And yet all these make up that one clear stream of light. All the variety of the light doesn't detract from what the light is; in fact, it makes up the full light. Take only one or two of the colors, or the other waves and you break the pure light down. And yet mix them all in and you get a seemlying endless amount of light, power, and color.

What does that mean for us? It means that everyone of us is needed and wanted exactly how we are, for exactly what we can offer, for exactly what we can accomplish to represent the fullness of God's image. Yes, God is a God of order, but He is also a God of randomness. If you have any doubt of that, just take one look at the platupus! God rarely deals with you and I in the same organized fashion. Rarely can we say, God did this last year, thus He will do it again this year and for years to come exactly the same way. Yes, God is immutable. Yes, God innate character is unchanging. But his actions vary, and His methods have changed over time. So, both of our personalities show the different parts of God.


There are some denominations that take the verse, "God is a God of order" and have created an idea of God that is one faceted. :God the Creator had a purpose and accomplished it; The God of order doesn't like chaos; The God of the Bible doesn't like randomness: They have taken that one verse and have made man-made laws or doctrines saying to be godly means we are always controlled and organized. Now these might be good goals to work towards but they don't repesent a more godly lifestyle than those who are more random. On the other swing of the pendulum are the groups who say that they won't make up any firm schedule or order of events in a church service because they want it to be fresh and ordered by the Holy Spirit. They look down on the literagy and orderly forms that other's have in their expression of worship. We need to get to a point, that as long as Jesus is glorified, the mode or method is just that... only a method. And in the bigger picture of things, each way points us to a part of God's attributes.

Your worth is secure because at the base of every action, every disposition, every personality trait, is a portioned representation of God himself. This is one reason we as limited humans, will never fully understand God. Because he is so mulitfaceted and seemingly opposite that our minds can't comprehend it. But without you, without your personlity, without the traits that you have and express; without that part God wouldn't be full. Just as the light would be less if the color blue was missing, heaven forbid, the full representation of God would be missing without the part that you represent