Genesis 1: 26 - 27 NKJV
A good friend of mine (he knows all too well who he is) has been fond of telling us that we...resemble Christ who is in us. Now, for someone who only recently began to grasp the concept of Christ in us this was just another mystery I needed to somehow comprehend. Did God really intend for all of this to be so complicated? Have we been reading far too much into this? Maybe the answer is there if we just took God at His word and stopped attempting to add our own thoughts into the mix. So, knowing this, when the apostle Paul tells us that Christ lives in us we should take him at his word {Galations 2:20}. Likewise, when the Lord states upon His creation that we were created in His own image, we should see it as it is. That is, we are in the very image of God. Does God even have an image? We're told that nobody has ever seen Him at any time {1 John 4:12}. So, what is that image of God? Well, we are. That is, we were created in that image of our Lord. Now, maybe I try to over think things, but I wanted to know exactly what that image of God was that I was created in. For the longest time, I was of the belief that God looked like...me. That is, my physical image that others see when they look upon me. Again, a friend tossed a monkey wrench into my entire perception of that image of God. How can we resemble something nobody has ever even seen? Wait wait, did Jesus Himself have a image as well? If we are Christ would we not fit that image as well? Jesus told His disciples that he who has seen Him has seen the Father as well {John 14:9}. So, Christ Jesus and the Father are one in the same. As Christ is in me, so is God in me. Everyone getting this so far?
9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8: 9 - 11 NKJV
Ever since I was young I have been intersted in stories of the spirit world around us. Yes, those ghost stories all too often told around a campfire. It is my belief that there is another plane surrouding us where spirits of the departed walk. I'm not alone in my thinking either, for there are many cultures and civilizations who hold this belief as well. So is this thinking in error? Are these simply stories and nothing else? Well, I believe that there is a solid link to this spirit realm and our own true image we were created in by God. Paul tells us that we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit {Romans 8:9}. If we are to take Paul at his word, then our physical image we see daily is but a covering for our true image. Or, as my friend would say, this is but our vessel which contains that image of our Lord who lives through us. I am inclined to accept this description of myself. I am not but skin and bones, but that Spirit that is within me. That is my true image. This is our true image. Yes, I am Jesus! All that I experience and do I do as He who is in me. As I said, I don't feel that we need to read so much into what our Lord has told us about who we are. He has told us who we are in Him, and I've never known God to mislead me in any way.
7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14: 7 - 9 NKJV
~Jesus~
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