Thought for Today
Genesis 1:28 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness . . .
Psalm 8:4 . . . what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
Yesterday, I read in These Days, “Mr. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister and host of the popular children’s program Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, had a lovely exercise he used with groups of children and adults. He asked people to sit in silence for thirty or sixty seconds and think about those who have cared about them and wanted what was best for them. He challenged people to imagine how pleased the caring People would be to know the difference they’ve made for us.” Then the author asked, “I wonder whether we communicate to God about the difference it makes to have been created, fearfully and wonderfully, by a loving God.”
Mr. Rogers has been one of my heroes since our own children discovered his television show. Since I too became a minister, I have shifted his status from ‘general hero’ to ‘faith hero.’ I am not aware of any theological tomes Mr. Rogers ever published, but the life he led and especially that television program provide one of the greatest living examples of what it means to be a Christian.
That thirty or sixty second exercise is a wonderful idea for all Christians. Not just as a ‘one and done’ exercise, but something we should regularly practice. As part of that practice, we need to incorporate saying “Thank you.” For the living, we need to tell people the difference they have made in our lives. For the dead, we need to remember them in our prayers. For our Creator God, we need to frequently offer thanks for being made in God’s image and for having been “made . . . a little lower than God, and crowned . . . with glory and honor.” How often do you say “Thank you” to God? How often would (could?) be enough, considering all God has done for you and for me?
Christians are quite literally those who have encountered Christ, who have publicly vowed to pattern our lives on Christ’s life. We understand those words of Paul to the church in Rome about being “conformed to the image of his Son” and strive in our lives to be so conformed.
Many of us earned a gold star by memorizing John 3:16 in Sunday School or in Vacation Bible School. Some of us have read and reflected on the next verse, “3:17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” If you frequent these Thoughts, you have read, “Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” You have also read, “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Yesterday’s devotional in These Days ended with the prayer “Creating God, thank you for the amazing gift of life you give us. We are grateful that you always want the best for us. Amen.”
How often do you say “Thank you” to God? How often would (could?) be enough, considering all God has done for you and for me? Indeed, how often could be enough? When you pray, and I hope you do so regularly, do you remember to offer thanksgiving? Or, has your prayer life become an endless string of requests? It is easy to slip into a prayer routine of what I call ‘shiny red bicycle’ prayers, like all those Christmas prayers we offered as children. Prayers merely saying to God, “Gimme!”
God created us in God’s own image. Irrespective of how we understand the exact meaning of ‘image,’ that in itself is truly awesome and amazing. The author of Genesis understood just how amazing it is that “2:7 the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”
How often do you say “Thank you” to God? How often would (could?) be enough, considering all God has done for you and for me?
Stay safe, thank God, trust God,
Pastor Ray