Monday, First week of Advent 2009
“He is the image of the invisible God…” –Colossians 1:15a
Have you ever heard the phrase –“he’s the spitting image of his father?” I’d never wondered about this phrase until I began to think of Jesus as the “spitting image of His Father.”
Isn’t it true when a baby is firstborn everyone is trying to figure out who he/she looks like? At least I’m that way – for some reason it’s important to me to figure it out. Perhaps because I didn’t look very much like any of my siblings when I was growing up – so the old fear of not really belonging reared its head in my heart and mind. Of course that fear is gone now – as I’ve aged I look very much like my family!
Some say the phrase “spitting image” came from a comic play written in 1689 - "Poor child! he's as like his own dadda as if he were spit out of his mouth."
This is Jesus – the exact “spitting image” of His Father! The word used by Paul does not denote that Jesus is “like” His Father – it means that “Jesus is the very stamp of God the Father.” And of course we believe that Jesus is equal – one – with God.
So if Jesus is the image of God, what does God look like? For the past 17 days I’ve been in California with my grandsons, Andrew (7) and Ethan (3) while their parents were on a Work & Witness trip to Haiti. My daughter said to me several times – so who do my boys remind you of? Who are they like in our family? I had brought a photo taken of my paternal grandfather with me to show Olivia (my daughter) how Andrew’s ears are just like Great-great-grandpa McElroy’s. Ethan looks like his daddy, like his mama, like his Papa Randy all rolled into one.
As I’ve been thinking about this scripture from Collosians 1 and the fact that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, my mind continues to go back to the scripture from Psalm 145:8-9:
The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
Don’t we see this over and over again in Jesus? He is gracious and compassionate – the image of the invisible God. He is slow to anger and rich in love – the image of the invisible God. He is good to all – the image of the invisible God. He has compassion on all he has made – the image of the invisible God. Sometimes we forget these attributes of God our Father – they are lost in a muddle of guilt, regrets, and failures on our part to live up to His image.
So we have Jesus, born to us in frailty, the “spitting image” of His Father to show us what our Father looks like. We have the Holy Spirit to stamp the image of Jesus deep on our hearts. Today as you go about your everyday, work-a-day life, remember Jesus is the image of the invisible God and you are the image of Jesus.
Father, we are so thankful You gave us Your Son, Jesus, so we could see You for who You really are. Thank You for Your gracious compassion in our lives – help us, through the power of Your Spirit, to extend that gracious compassion to all we come in contact with today. Thank you for not getting angry with us – but covering us with Your rich love. Help us, through the power of Your Spirit, to keep our tempers in check and extend love to all we come in contact with today. We want Your image to be stamped deep in our hearts. - Amen
This is verse #2 of the old hymn ”O to be like Thee”…
O to be like Thee, full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.
O to be like Thee, oh to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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