Skip to main content

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.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more