Living as an Image-bearer

You my friend...are a worshiper!

So opens Louie Giglio's powerful little book, The Air I Breathe.

Do you see the truth in what he says? Even a careful observation of humanity indicates that every man is an inherent worshiper. No matter how you cut it, everyone worships something. Temples abound in our world. Whether it be the Dome of the Rock or the Astrodome, worship is taking place across the planet. From moshing fans at rock concerts to quiet monks at secluded monestaries, church steeples to neon lights, everyone is worshiping something.

But why? Why is it that we are wired for worship?

Because we were created to worship our Maker.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)"

God chose to design us as image-bearers. WE WERE CREATED TO REFLECT THE GLORIOUS IMAGE OF THE CREATOR! But man failed his resposibility. He chose to exalt himself, rather that God. He chose to seek pleasure in his own glory, and as a result, his ability to reflect God's glory was broken like a shattered mirror after a fall. The Fall.

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles... And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:21-23, 28-32)"

Man is not ignorant of God. He has turned away from the worship of "the glory of the immortal God" to the worship of self, satisfying his longings with nature, fleshly pleasures, accomplishments, and all manner of shallow and unsatisfying things. As 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to deep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

But all hope is not lost. God will change the hearts of some, so that they may be restored to their original purpose.

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6)"

The shattered mirror is being restored, one piece at a time:

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)"

Live as a worshiper, my friend. Fulfill your original purpose.