Imago Dei

  By Eric Hutchinson, Fellowship Rogers CR Training Coach, 12/8/21

Recently my wife and I got up early, and we saw the most amazing sunrise! Then, we went into town to get a cup of coffee together. While we were driving to the coffee shop, we witnessed the most beautifully colored trees! Did you know that there is no tree exactly the same? There may be trees that are similar in height or size, but each tree is uniquely made different. Just like you and me! Each of us are uniquely different and special. There is a Latin word, Imago Dei, that means “Image of God.” You and I were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and He does not make junk! What’s incredible is that while we are made in His image, we are each uniquely made special.


Sometimes I can get discouraged as the enemy points out what I consider to be flaws in my body or character. For instance, I have a really loud voice. I have always had a loud voice, and it got me into trouble multiple times while in school growing up. Sometimes people will ask me to lower my voice because I am speaking too loudly. I also tend to lean forward when I walk and run. When I was young, I remember some people nicknaming me “Twinkle Toes.” It was meant fondly but sometimes it would hurt my feelings because it wasn’t something I could change about myself. I was also born with seven permanent teeth missing. When my permanent teeth came in, pushing my baby teeth out, there were several baby teeth that were left in my mouth to this day. Those teeth have changed color and don’t look right. This is embarrassing to me and sometimes I wish I could afford to have this fixed.

The enemy loves to bring my attention to my flaws and uses them to discourage me. However, God loves me just the way I am. Look at these passages:

Psalms 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 Isaiah 64:8 says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay; you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

 Finally, in Ephesians 2:10 it says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

 So, when the enemy starts pointing out your flaws and tries to discourage you, remember you are God’s masterpiece, and He loves you just the way you are! I hope you are doing well my friend, and I pray this word encourages you to continue to walk with Jesus. Have a blessed day!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha...
Read more

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the ...
Read more

Guidelines are there for a reason

Anyone who has participated in a Step Study or a small group through Celebrate Recovery has heard the five small-group guidelines. They’re supposed to be read aloud before each meeting starts, just to remind everyone or to inform any newcomers. Most of the guidelines are obvious and make perfect sense on the first reading. Anonymity is vital and as people who are submitting to God as our Higher Power, we should realize that we are in no more a position to “fix” each other than we are to “fix” ourselves. There’s one guideline that puzzled and even annoyed me at first, that pesky no. 2. “There is NO cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in conversation excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her feelings without interruptions.” At first I really didn’t understand the guideline. “Did they seriously need to tell us not to talk to each other while someone was sharing?,” was my thought. But as the guideline was explained further, I better understood. We ar...
Read more