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Resolve to be Like God

          “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Exodus 34:5-6)

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)    

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39) 

          I am convinced that our continuing problems exist because we still long to “be like God.” Of course, the way that we tend to long to be like God  is usually the wrong way – we either want to take God’s place and be or do things “better” or we want to short cut the process and do it “now.” That’s the lesson of Genesis 3.

          The lesson of Exodus 34 is about how God sees being God. He starts with a repetition, which in the Hebrew culture means an emphasis. He is the Lord. Make no mistake. Get that straight. He is God. We are not. But what does that mean? God says it means that He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. If we would be like God, this is what we must be.

          And what does Solomon tell us in Proverbs 3? Love and faithfulness are the priority. They are the key. They are the lesson we must learn if we learn nothing else. And there’s even a priority taught in Scripture. We are to love God with everything we have (which means being faithful in that love) and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

          It seems to me that I harp on this idea. But Solomon was wiser than I am, and he’s harping on it, too. Even God harps on it. “Want to know what I am like? Abounding in love and faithfulness! Do you want to be like me? Love and be faithful.”

        Do you want a resolution for 2021?  You couldn’t ask for better.  You’ll fail. We’ll all fail, but can you imagine what would happen if we stopped with lording it over one another and spent the year loving and being faithful to those we meet? (Note – it will often mean saying “No” to ourselves, and “No” to the people we meet because we must say “Yes” to God.)

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