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

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more