The Image of the Invisible God (A Conclusion)

Some of you know that, for the past year (and a little more), I have been doing a project on Instagram, entitled 365 Images of God, where I attempted to write about one person a day and discover what unique gifts God had placed in them. After a lot of missed days and many repeated individuals, I have finally reached the end. You can view the rest of the project here. This is the final post.

365/365. The day has arrived.

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Some will call this ending cliche, and I feel a little that way myself. However, though it wasn’t my original plan, it suddenly feels that to finish any other way would be unfitting. After all, this one is the climax, the reason behind all the others.

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Paul in Colossians calls Him “the image of the invisible God,” and the writer of Hebrews says He is “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature.” The Church fathers and ancient philosophers called Him the Logos—the Word and Mind of God, the Mediator between God and humanity. He is, quite literally, God in the flesh.

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“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John says in his opening chapter.

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Someone recently asked me where I thought Jesus was in the years between his recorded boyhood appearance in the Temple and his public appearance at His baptism. Before I could answer, she expressed her doubts that He could possibly have been living a normal life, helping His father as a carpenter. As I pondered this, I understood her skepticism. After all, wouldn’t we expect the Exact Imprint of the One True God to be constantly on the move, performing miracles and bringing His Kingdom to bear on the earth? Where is the power, the show, in living an ordinary life?

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I didn’t get a chance to answer the woman who asked me these questions. But the more I think about them, the more I realize the necessity of Jesus’ ordinary life. The writer of Hebrews not only called Jesus the Exact Imprint, but also the High Priest. And not only the High Priest, but the High Priest who is able to “empathize with our weakness...tempted in every way.” (Heb. 4:15)

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I’m sure there are a hundred theological ramifications for Jesus’ seemingly mundane waiting period, but for the moment, here is the conclusion I have come to: If Jesus had not led an ordinary life, He would have been unable to become my Savior. God’s justice said that mankind had to be punished for sin. Just as one man had represented all of us and plunged us into sin, so one Man could atone for all our sin. But He had to be a man.

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Now, Jesus could have put on skin and endured birth and growing up, and made a big show of glory throughout his life, still of course concluding with His atoning death and resurrection. He could have shunned the ordinary and lived constantly displaying His deity for the whole of His life. But had He done this, He would not have been the perfect representative for me. To represent me perfectly before God the Father, He had to know what it is to wrestle with sin as a person, without “pulling the God card,” as one of my favorite teachers used to say—and He had to win the battle.

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Jesus’ death alone did not atone for me—His life did, too. He lived the life that I could not, facing into all the mundane tasks that I face and doing them in such a way as to perfectly please God. He got up in the morning and ate breakfast and kissed His mother’s cheek and went to work. He babysat His younger siblings. He had friends to hang out with and classes to attend. I heard Steve Green say once, “He knew what it was like to have the hiccups.”

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We cannot neglect the humanity of Christ, for it is His humanity, His ordinariness, that allowed Him to become our perfect High Priest, our Mediator, the Logos of God. Without the humanity of Christ, there is no gospel, no redemption for the marred image of God in each of us.

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It is my hope that this project has been a source of delight and encouragement for you, dear and faithful reader. There have been many moments in which I have written to you from a state of exhaustion, depression, anger, or hurt, and that has sometimes affected the way I present a certain person. Other times, I have shamelessly flattered, and built up a picture that is perhaps flawed in the direction of being too positive. But throughout this journey, I have been reminded of several things: One, that in every person, there is a glimpse of the image of God. No matter how difficult or sinful or just plain strange a person may seem, everyone is stamped with God’s fingerprints.

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Two, all of us deserve death. No matter how great, every single one of us is destined for hell without Jesus. I forget that often, forget that includes me until Jesus became my Savior. Any merit we have is bestowed upon us by Him and none of us can conjure up righteousness on our own.

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Three, Jesus saves us. Really, this reminder has come in the last half hour as I have written this post. The image of God is ruined, sometimes beyond recognition, in each of us, until Jesus comes in. He alone restores our reflection of God, and He alone is qualified, because He alone is the perfect Image of God.

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Many of you reading this already believe all that I just said. You are nodding your heads in agreement and your hearts are swelling with the wonder of our Christ.

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But others of you have not yet given your lives to Jesus. Maybe you hate Him. Maybe you simply find Him irrelevant. If that’s you, I’m honored that you took the time to read this far. And you may not feel the need to go any further with Jesus than where you are right now. But if you do, may I offer you this:

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Jesus invites you to Himself in every moment this side of eternity. Even now, He’s willing to receive you. And if, at this moment, that fact intrigues or convicts you, I invite you to dig deeper. So often, I am tempted to ask everyone in the whole world to commit their lives to Jesus after one particularly well-written message. But I had the gospel presented to me for three years before I believed in Jesus, so I won’t ask that of you today.

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But I will say, few things have inspired me to hold onto my faith like learning about God and His people. So if you are pondering these things, I invite you to contact me. Comment below or message me on Instagram and I’d love to fill you in—or you can even just go for it yourself! Try praying—God wants to talk to you. Dig into the Bible, even if you think it’s not true. Some of its biggest skeptics are now its greatest defenders. If you dare, set foot in a Christian church. God’s people are messy and imperfect, but they are one of the ways He chooses to express Himself. Ask questions. Search out answers. God wants to be found.

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For the moment, though, whether at this time you know you love Jesus, or not, rest assured of this one thing: You, dear reader, carry God’s image already, and He is able to restore it in you.

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#8billionimagesofGod