"Fear God, Love God, Serve God": "In The Image of God"

Paul and Timothy

"In the Image of God"

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and

follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,

love, patience, meekness."

(I Timothy 6:11)

MEN! Just the mention of that word, today, conjures up images of muscular, tan, powerful looking, glistening hunks who grace the covers of magazines, show off their mighty bulging physiques in commercials, movies and everywhere else Hollywood gains their entrance, but this is not exactly the image God looks for in a man. What about WOMEN? Billboards can't seem to advertise any product whatsoever without a scantily clad female staring down into your vehicles on your innocent way to work. Our world has lost touch with what "godly" means. And, all of the marriages everywhere would endure a lot better if gals could find guys, and guys could find gals, who are living and walking "In The Image of God."

Why? Girl, if you've ever been married; you know what I'm talkin' about. It's a matter of the heart; men, according to scripture, are supposed to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. It's great to look like a "hunk," but there should be something substantial underneath those biceps, and it's about treating you right, honoring you, and "I'm sorry" are two words of continual marriage vocabulary! But, hey Girl, you gotta' treat him right too; it's a reciprocal agreement ... God must be in the middle, and if He is, it's not a hunk and a fox on either side, it's an "image of the heart of God" on either side ...

Paul designated Timothy as a "Man of God." By the way, it should be noted that the attitude and posture of "meekness" is not at all weakness. Meek means 'mild' or 'slow to anger,' and what lady doesn't want that in a man?

Moses was considered a "man of God." Why? He spent time with His Maker. He sat on a mountain in the misty lonely altitude of cold untempered winds to hear from God. And, when He did; it was a life changing experience ... the finger of God writing the commandments on tablets of stone as Moses sat spellbound in utter awe watching the lightning striking strokes penetrating into the depths of rock with expert accuracy and precision. It's no wonder when Moses descended the mountain, his countenance was on fire and changed, his spirit was moved to its core, his heart was profoundly humbled, and he was in no mood to burst into a lascivious spactacle of nudity, idolatry, and unimaginable sin! That would be like stepping out of the Holy of Holies into an XXXX film live before your eyes. Sin is sickening to the Holy man or woman of God, especially so when you've been in His Holy presence for a period of time ...

David, being anointed

O, David, the man after God's own heart. He was a man who was brave, who trusted in His God, who loved His Creator with the descriptive adoring words of his very soul, who sang his melodic tunes in the light of the moon, and the wispy breezes carried them on angels' wings straight to the throne room of God. No man in earth is perfect, and he made his mistakes, but what made David a giant, himself, is that he humbled himself and acknowledged his sin. It's something we all must do: men, women, teens, children ... we all come to God the same way, through repentance, sorrowful and sincere repentance, and this is the way we remain in God's favor and blessing ... our daily lives must be repentant as long as we are mortals in earth. The purity of the covering of grace does not lie upon a bed of sin ...

Elijah

Another "Man of God;" there is no doubt that Almighty God was with Elijah. Miracles, prophecy, and power overshadowed him. The prophets of Baal found out what the God of the universe thought of Elijah, because God answered him by "fire."

God will answer YOU by fire, as well, after repentance; he will fill you with the Holy Ghost and fire, and you will speak in a language you never learned, feel the glory of a God you've never felt, experience joy such you can't even imagine, step into a dimension you never dreamed possible, and it's the kind of thing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ our Savior loves to do. He ever lives to "live in YOU!"

Elisha receiving the mantle when

Elijah was taken up

Ah, then there was that mighty, but persistent, Elisha, who was no dummy; he observed all that God did through Elijah, so he purposed to be like him and His God, in fact, "double" like him. Elisha wanted a double portion of the power Elijah had and so he followed him around like white on rice. Why? Because Elijah told him that if he, Elisha, saw him go away, he would receive the mantle of a double portion of his power in God. Elisha saw it, and Elisha caught the mantle, and he had a double portion.

The call to be holy is for men, women, teens, children, all of us. Imagine what it would be like to live in a world of people who patterned themselves "in the image of God." We will not be perfect until we reach heaven, but we could walk in love, rid ourselves of hatred, jealousy, envy, strife, drunkenness, sin, lust, murders, fornication, evil, and seek to be "like" our God in all of His ways. What is God like? The Holy Bible is who God IS; He will never say anything different than what is in His Word; all of the sought after answers to life's questions are in His Word; all admonitions to live in His image are in His Word. If we don't read His Word, or know His Word, we will have much trouble being like Him.

To be "In The Image of God" is to take up our cross and follow Him.