.

We often hear that “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” 
While Christians are one in the Spirit and one in the Lord,
Jesus says that they’ll know we are Christians by
…wait for it…
our unity.

Not a superficial unity like the silent types of Beth Moore, Timothy Keller, and so-called Christian conservative journalist David French might proffer in recent scolding by Tucker Carlson.  To them, drag queen story hours for children are no biggie.  No need to say a word.  Transgenderism?  Jesus died for them too.  Oh yes, they admit (if only by their silence), surely Jesus would approve of being inclusive by the world’s standards.

Far from it.  If you wonder why Jesus returns with Judgment, our silence is our accuser.

Where did we go so wrong as a nation?  Jesus said in John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one– 23 I in them and you in me– so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “

A Christian’s message should not be about
diversity, inclusion, transgenderism or anything else. 
It should be about sinners in need of a Savior. 
There’s only one Savior and His Name is Jesus.

Focus for Lent: It’s time for Christians to stop and repent of being silent about (or worse, vocal spokespeople for) the culture and start talking about sin again.

Questions for further thought:

When Jesus created man and woman in His Image, male and female (just two, ahem), did He dream happily of a day in which mankind improved upon His work with 71 other genders, complete with mandatory pronouns, and they would greet Him in their multiplicity at His return?  Or is He appalled at our lack of moral judgment?

Why are so few Christian leaders able to stand up for the Bible and they meander about in ambiguities to avoid being offensive? The pastor in Canada whose segment Tucker Carlson featured, was arrested for having the audacity to peacefully interrupt a drag queen event … for children.  The pastor was thrown to the ground that night and the next morning was thrown behind bars for mischief and disturbing the peace.  As he was being hauled away, he said through the bars on the vehicle door window, “This is what happens when you go against the grain.”  So, how many so-called Christian leaders rose to his defense?  How many are simply too comfortable with their book sales and speaking engagements, upscale wardrobes and popular pulpits…or their paycheck…to protect kids and stand with those persecuted for speaking God’s Truth? 

Prayer: Lord God help us to be like Jesus who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. May we serve one another and to do so sacrificially, even if it costs us something we hold dear. Lord, empower us, embolden us, encourage us to do what is right in Your eyes. We ask Lord, that You would protect the children of this nation, in this world, from the evils that come against them. Shield our most vulnerable from evils that could kill them or harm them or abuse them. We ask Lord that your Holy Spirit would guard and protect children from what the devil has planned. If Christians cannot bring themselves to stand up for kids and to protect them with the truth of Your Word, Oh Lord, who will we be willing to protect? Children are our most innocent and vulnerable among people. We ask Lord that You would empower us–even admonish us–to do what is right, to seek Your face always, and to serve one another with an attitude like that we see in our Lord Christ Jesus. Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

It’s perhaps easy to see
how walking with God before the fall of man was simpler. 
For Adam there were fewer temptations…
just the one big one. 

But Adam heard God’s voice with his own ears so perhaps that insulated him for who knows how much time post-creation?  Scripture is silent.  It may not have been so quick as Eve shows up and it all goes downhill from there.

Yet, even after the fall and sin’s result in our broken Image, there were people recorded for us in Scripture who walked with God.  Abraham was friends with God,and David had a heart after God’s own heart.

Were they perfect?  Absolutely not! 
But what qualities did God see?  Scripture says it is faith:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for…5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Focus for Lent: Repent of unbelief and clothe yourself with faith.

Questions for further thought:

Read the rest of Hebrews 11 and see how many fallen people have yet walked with God by faith and pleased Him.  Was their outcome always happy? 

Hebrews 11: 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

Do you ever feel like you stand alone when you stand with and for Christ?  What is the bigger picture that God and the angels see in the spiritual realm?

Scripture says that Enoch walked faithfully with God for 300 years but lived to 365 years. Don’t you wonder what his life was like for the first 65 years? Does it give you hope for your life?

Read Galatians 5:16-26.  What among these lists can you put off or put on?

Colossians 3 has another such list.  Colossians 3:14 “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” How does love bind them all together in perfect unity?

Prayer: Help me to walk with You, Lord, keeping step with the Spirit.  I need You. I love You.  Be glorified in my life, Lord.  Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

For Adam, bearing God’s Image perfectly before the fall meant that he could walk with God and talk with Him with no obstacles whatsoever to having relationship and communion. 

Genesis 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.  5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,

God’s original intent was that Adam would minister in this Eden sanctuary, working the ground (but work was not hard yet because plants simply yielded their fruit by God’s creative decree).

Genesis 2:6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed … 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God set boundaries for relationship with Him. 
Paraphrased, “You are free,” God said. 
“But you must not take for yourself what I alone can give you.” 
Don’t you see? God had already given Adam everything good.

Focus for Lent: Repent of seeking evil when God has told you what is good.

Questions for further thought:

Why, given Adam’s knowledge of all things good as his sole experience, would he have curiosity and temptation about what was evil?

In what way does our curiosity about evil deceive us about our immunity from its consequences?

It has often been said that sin will always take you farther than you want to go, make you stay longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you’d ever want to pay.  Can you think of a sin in your life or those of someone you know that followed that maxim?

Prayer: Lord, please guide my steps each day and keep me far from sin.  Give me strength to resist temptation and the wisdom to keep short accounts with You and my fellow man.  May I live as a person who respects Your boundaries and exhibits the fragrance of Christ in my life.  Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

Mysterious as the Image of God is (and hard to define!) yet there are characteristics we can glean from observing Jesus and how He talked about His relationship of reflecting God’s perfect Image. 

What is reflection, but a return or display of something without absorbing it?  We do not absorb the Image of God and consume it.  We have it within us and radiate or reflect it back to God.

.

When God sees His Image displayed well in us—particularly in our unity—God is glorified. When we reflect back to God, the broken (for now) Image, Jesus intercedes for us and makes perfect what the Father sees in what the Christian has radiated back.

Focus for Lent: Repent of cowardice in wrongly exalting, accepting, and reflecting the world and its message. We have been given a better message and a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. But when 10% of the population (at most) convinces 90% to abandon everything they know from the Bible for fear of being called names or persecuted, we have a cowardice problem and not a pursuit of godly unity.

Questions for further thought: 

Jesus has seen God face-to-face before the Incarnation and could reflect His perfect Image even in His perfect humanity.  In what way is Jesus the second or “last Adam”? 

1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

When we are finally one with Him as His Church, how will that bring glory to God?

Our culture tries to force unity along secular standards through intimidation/bullying, censorship of alternate voices, power/control of media messaging, repetition (browbeating) in the form of indoctrination called advertising, and through punishment of dissenters.  Will that propaganda’s forced compliance ever achieve true unity?

Did Jesus compromise with the devil for the sake of peace and diversity?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, preserve us from our world situation with its unholiness, its adversity, its hatred of all things that You stand for, and its mission of welcoming as many people to hell as possible. In the end, the world standards are conformed only to the god of this world (Satan). May we never accept those standards of compliance! Wide is the path that leads to destruction! We pray that You will open the eyes of Your precious humanity to see the same temptation in the garden of Eden is now at work among us. It is the same temptation that Satan uses every time … to be our own gods … and to do what is pleasurable or wise in our own eyes, believing that You will not issue consequences. As Your people, we repent of any complicity we’ve had in this messaging, and ask, Father, for both Your forgiveness and Your strength to stand against Satan’s messaging in this world. May the fragrance of Christ be ours this day and always, for Your glory we pray. Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

How many of us, when betrayed, would cut off the betrayer and never again have a relationship? 

God’s answer was to continue relationship.  I’d argue that reality (i.e. relationship) is part of the Image of God and why I believe humanity alone bears this Image.

Speaking of humanity in Hebrews 2:7 “’You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor 8 and put everything under their feet.’ In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered.

Salvation is inherently relational. Why would that be?

Hebrews 2:11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.’ 13 And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again He says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’ 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by his death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death– that is, the devil– 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Mortality was something humans received as punishment when we sinned. 
Angels were sent straight to hell when they sinned. 
But humans died and carried God’s Image (broken through sin) to the grave too. 
For God, that was unacceptable.

Hebrews 2:16 For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

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Focus for Lent:  The relationship continues in Christ Jesus through His intercession and ours.

Questions for further thought:

The devil was an angel. Angels go straight to hell without salvation offered. Do “spirit-only” beings like angels die?

How does mortality of humans explain Jesus’ coming to rescue sinners (not angels) and doing so by His death on a Cross?

What about mortality of humans grieves God with respect to His Image?

Now that Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit has come, how do we continue this relationship as a reflection of His Image?

Prayer: Thank You Lord Jesus that You didn’t leave us without a Redeemer. Thank You that Your Image is so precious to You that extreme and sacrificial measures would be planned.  That Jesus would be clothed with human flesh, being made in human likeness, to be made sin for us, to suffer, to die on a cross to save us.  Your goodness to us, continuing relationship with us, Oh Lord, it inspires both gratitude and awe.  We are rendered speechless before You, Lord.  Amen.

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This year’s Lent Devotional Series “Created to Display His Image” resumes tomorrow after today’s Sabbath rest to meditate and worship. Today, reflect on Jesus’ words that He is personal and knowable.

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Adam and Eve, perfect in their initial Creation,
decided that reflecting God’s Image wasn’t good enough. 
They wanted to be exactly like God,
independent, and be gods themselves. 

God had to have been heartbroken.  Genesis 3:22 “And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’   23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.” 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Before we consider this move too harsh, we must admit God is God and we are not.  For us to live forever with a broken Image and man’s likeness born of a sin nature, that would be hell.  So, God acted to preserve us and those who would be our next generation.

Genesis 4:1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

In fact, Scripture says, Genesis 5:1 “When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. “

After Adam and Eve, every human (apart from Jesus Christ) would have a broken Image, man’s likeness and a sin nature.

Focus for Lent: Seek God’s likeness in Jesus Christ, fully man, fully God.

Questions for further thought:

Considering the state of race relations in the United States and around the world, what does the Bible say about the Image of God, man’s likeness and how to live?

In the account of Adam’s line (above), Abel was killed by Cain.  Cain was still alive but is not described as in Adam’s likeness.  The remnant of faith, Seth, was the son in Adam’s own image.  How do we explain Cain?

Is it possible to be born with the same father and mother, but display a likeness that resembles neither when under the influence of a sin nature? See John 8:44.

Prayer: Father God, though Your Image in us has been broken on account of human sin, please reform us by the power of Your Holy Spirit to have our likeness be more like Jesus than arising out of our sin nature.  We repent of not treating our fellow man as if they have Your Image and Adam’s likeness. To rely upon superficial characteristics like skin color is surely an anathema to You. They are our brothers and sisters in the family of man. Remind me always that faith is not hereditary, no matter how much our earthly parents may have tried to teach us of Your ways.  May we persevere in teaching Your truth to the next generation since each person must decide which way they will go and whose likeness they will pursue.  “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).  Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

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One of the most beautiful things about the Image of God is the fullness of expression.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Adam and Eve are each made in God’s Image, but somehow … together … the Image of God becomes deeper, fuller, more fruitful, and more functional.

Focus for Lent: Repent of “half-Image” living.

Questions for further thought:

A man or a woman who is unmarried still bears the Image of God, not half of a whole.  How does the Church diminish women who are unmarried in a way they do not diminish celibate men?

How does the “one flesh” of man and woman together in marriage offer something distinct, importantly, not better, in terms of the Image of God?

One eye can see the world.  The other eye, if the only functional one, can also see the world.  Together, what can two eyes contribute to the vision of a person?

If the interpersonal relationship is part of how we experience the Image of God, how can single people still enjoy that expression?

Prayer: 

Forgive Your Church, Lord, for the way we push single people to the side as if they are only half-Image-bearers or incomplete people. Help us to see that by Your design, people who are single are uniquely equipped for certain types of ministries. For those in the Church who are married, we ask Lord that they would honor You with their bodies, that they would honor You in the one-flesh commitment they have made to each other, that they would honor You with their minds and actions, with their thoughts and hidden interests.  Forgive us, Lord, for the ways that we have corrupted Your original design and paraded it all over television as if it’s a good thing when it’s not and called it entertainment.  Forgive us for the many ways we offend You each and every day. We thank You that Your mercies are new every morning because every morning we need them.  We look forward to the day, Lord, when our sin nature doesn’t go to war with our redeemed nature.  When we are fully free indeed from this corruptible flesh and can be like You to enjoy the fullness of Your presence forever. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

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Adam and Eve bear God’s Image equally.  Jesus may have been male while He clothed Himself with humanity, but it doesn’t mean God is male or that Eve was just an add-on…or like Prince Harry, “Spare.”  Or like her existence was only to take over if Adam dies and God needed someone to keep calm and carry on. 

No, Adam and Eve are the purest of equals. She is his most (and only) suitable helper.

Genesis 2:20 But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

Focus for Lent: Repent of viewing men as toxic abusers and women as high-maintenance narcissists.

Questions for further thought:

Earlier in Genesis 2, God created the animals and had an “animal parade” in front of Adam who named them all.  Immediately after that, it says that for Adam, no suitable helper was found.  Did God really think an animal was going to satisfy that Image relationship (nope) or did the parade serve a purpose for Adam?  What purpose might that be?

The Church has long been accused of being misogynistic.  There is such a focus on male leadership that there is little room for women to serve outside of the marriage or a women’s/children’s ministry.  How does that diminish the equality of Image-bearing, perfect complements even in ministry settings? Does this philosophy abide in our perfect Created state or is it grounded in our sin nature?

Worse, how does it drive desperate women to seek refuge in places that look like a church on the outside but deny the truth of God on the inside?  Is it any wonder that so many wayward churches have women at the helm or hang flags that are offensive to God?

Prayer:

Oh Lord, this issue of male and female equality of Image-bearing as an intrinsic part of humanity and Your design for the one flesh of marriage, Oh Lord, how it has been corrupted.  It’s just heartbreaking!  Forgive us Lord, for all the ways that we diminish the Image-bearing of men and women (equal at Creation!) resulting in our giving the world such a warped view of who You are and how You created us to be.  Lord, it is sin at its core that causes us to cast aside Your perfect plan for humanity, particularly in the sexual realm.  Is it any wonder there are so many gender-confused people in this world when we haven’t been teaching the truth?  Forgive us. Lord. We fall on Your mercy and ask that You would help us to communicate Your Gospel, Your original design for men and women, and to do so in such a way that we bring healing and hope back into this world.  We know You destroyed the earth once, and Sodom and Gomorrah over issues not so unlike this.  We fall on Your mercy Lord; we plead for Your grace; we ask for Your wisdom, and for You to grant courage for us to speak boldly in a culture that does not want to hear it.  We do this for your glory, Lord. Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.

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In all of Scripture’s narrative of Creation,
there’s only one time God says something is “not good.”

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

Focus for Lent: Adam alone, not good. Adam-and-Eve-together was good enough by God’s standards to conclude Creation, call it very good, and take a sabbath rest.

Questions for further thought:

What about Adam’s being alone meant could he not accomplish something that he could with his suitable helper?

One of the things that started me on this topic for Lent was the question of whether a human clone would have the Image of God.
In one sense, the answer is “Yes” because Eve was, it seems, cloned. She was built from Adam’s rib, not formed from the dust as a whole new creation or born from anyone. How might Eve being from Adam facilitate redemption, Jesus’ dying for humanity rather than a confused and complicated humanities?

Cloning humans creates many ethical problems. What about a cloning effort like Dolly the Sheep extended to humanity’s decision to clone other humans? Or Artificial Intelligence using human brain cells? Would that human have the Image of God in addition to life?

At what point does a person receive the Image of God as part of their humanity? Is God obligated to bestow His Image upon a human-origin clone as if it were created through the male/female one flesh origin He designed?

Prayer: Father God Almighty, may we never abuse our intellect, reason, and abilities to play the role of God. Medical and scientific advancements have a way of breaching that moral and ethics safety gap in ways other types of work and expression do not. Preserve us from ourselves, Lord. Forgive us, Father, for attempting things in the name of science or medicine that offend You. Help us to see red lines You have drawn and not to transgress them. Adam and Eve learned the hard way that You care about boundaries and commands. Please help us to see and obey. With gratitude for Your mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.