Have you ever wondered where some of our phraseology originated? I admit I have used phrases and slang whose origins at times have embarrassed me. I looked this one up. Seems like there is no clear winner as to the original meaning. Could be...might be...during this time was...seems to be the common answer. For me, this phrase has meant that one person so closely favors another, usually reserved for the close likeness to a relative. "He's the spittin image of his..."
Lately, I have heard that a lot about my daughter. "Boy, you couldn't deny that one!" "She looks just like her daddy!" Not something a teenage girl wants to hear but I don't think my 1 year old really cares. Isn't that the way life is supposed to work? Every seed reproducing after its kind? Shouldn't we expect two roses on a vine to look like they came from the same seed? Doesn't the tiger in our local zoo look like the one on the nature show? Can't you go into McDonalds in Florida and find the same heat lamp hamburger that is in Arkansas? (Okay, bad example but I am hungry right now).
God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26). That has deeper theological meaning than space here to discuss. But if we are made in the image of God why don't we look more like God? It's because we have gone under the knife. In an effort to be who WE want to be we have performed our own plastic surgery.
Instead of getting a tummy tuck on our selfish desires we have enhanced our pride. Instead of lifting our eyes up to see the needs of others we fat graft more waste in our lives than we have storage for. What we really need is to shed the makeup and let our true image show again - an image crafted by God.
My daughter may not grow to look as much like me as people think she does now, but I pray she continues to grow into the image of the one who made her.
Colossians 3:5-10
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It's interesting to note that, since Adam and Eve's fall, we are destined to look less and less like our Fathers as we grow unless we take active steps to steer ourselves towards Him. Yet another difference between mankind and the animals.
ReplyDeleteRandom thought, but there you have it :)
Regarding mirrors, it's really clouded and we will NEVER know what we really look like until we look in the mirror of God's Word and His commandments.
ack, that should say "Father" (not "Fathers", which is a bit blasphemous...)
ReplyDeleteRight on Shane! Paul even wrote that he would be in the pains of childbirth until Christ was formed in the Galatian Christians. We need have that intensity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. Always good to hear from you...
HA! I read an apostrophe in there as in "Father's image." Don't you love the send button?
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