Tapping Into The Goodness
"The LORD , the LORD , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Exodus 34:6-7
When people are confronted with their sin a typical excuse is, "Hey I'm only human". This excuse is not suprising since most people connect human nature with sinful nature. It is a notion that human beings are born naturally evil and sinful. There are so many sins attributed to our human nature. I have heard so many times, "It's human nature to be selfish, to be jealous, or to be greedy". I do believe that one side of human nature is sinful and evil, but there is a flip side to that coin and it is the image of God.
We seem to never discuss what it means to be created in the image of God. Being created in the image of God is a complex and beautiful process which most of it we can't comprehend. But what is certain is that if one is created in the image of God, then he or she is created to reflect God's nature and qualities. The scripture above gives us a great description of God's nature and qualities. Being made in the image of God it is impossible for a new born baby to be born with a "blank-slate" because he or she is born with the qualities of compassion, grace, love and forgiveness. It maybe in our nature to be sinful, but it is also in our nature to be holy.
How many times have we delved into our sinful desires and neglected to tap into the goodness found in the image of God? Humans beings are capable of doing the worst evil and at the same time are capable of doing the greatest good. We choose to let our sinful nature hide the image of God in us, but just because it is hidden doesn't mean it has been removed. The image of God has been with us from the beginning. Not even Adam and Eve's fall could remove the image of God inside us. Jesus is fullest expression of what it means to be the image of God. Though we don't have Jesus's supernatural ability to raise the dead or heal the sick, we do possess his physical ability to love and forgive our enemies, to love and take care of the widow and orphan, to wash feet.
Let us stop degrading God's creation as a sinful beast and begin to see the image of God that is inside all men and women. Since there is no limit to God's goodness the same must hold true for man's potential for goodness. God has already chosen to show his goodness to us. What will our decision be? Will we finally put aside our sinful desires and put on the image of God? When we deny our sinful desire we allow the image of God to be revealed. So my plea this week is for all us to empty oursevles of our sinful desire and tap into the goodness.
CJE
Coming next week: Love it or Leave it
