Image Together (Lent 9, 2023)

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.