WRONG IMAGE
Whose Image Are you?
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” Genesis 1:26-28. MSG
Knowing who we are in Christ is important; it is a prerequisite to having the right attitude toward our challenges and living above circumstances. But unfortunately, many aren’t enjoying the blessings of Christianity because they don’t know who they are in Christ or understand who the Christian is. They think, for example, that a Christian is a religious person who only goes to Church; No! He’s much more.
A Christian is someone in whom Christ dwells; someone in whom, and through whom, the Kingdom of God is seen in them; a conveyer of the lifestyle of Christ. Once we come to this reality, our life will take on a new meaning, and we’ll live joyfully every day, irrespective and independent of our current circumstances. That is why it’s so important that we understand God’s Word and what He says about us and then live accordingly.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, Colossians 2:6.
The Bible says Jesus wasn’t only delivered to death because of our sins. He was also raised for our justification. Romans 4:25. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. What does it mean to be justified? First, it means to be declared “not guilty”; in the mind of justice, in the eyes of God, we never sinned; therefore, there are no charges against us. That is so true; this truth has liberated my life.
Now we can appreciate why the Bible says we’re holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in the sight of God. Colossians 1:22. The Christian is a new creature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
We’re a brand new species of being that never existed before. That’s why God can declare us acquitted because there’s nothing to judge since we have a brand new life. Our justification isn’t because Jesus “paid” for our sins; He did that for the whole world of sinners, but the Christian isn’t a sinner; he’s a new creation, a product, not of the death and burial of Jesus Christ, but His resurrection! We came from the resurrection. We’re the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, grace to reign and exercise dominion over Satan and circumstances.
For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Romans 8:17.
When 2 Corinthians 5:17 says we’re a new creation, it talks about our spirit, not our soul and body. God took away the sinful nature, the nature we inherited from Adam, and He put in us His very self, made righteous and Holy. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6.
PUT ON YOUR NEW YOU
Genesis 1:26-28. 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.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them; male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the Earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The man and the woman are all made in the image of God. It means they have the same spirit, which is the spirit of God. That is to say, there is no male and female spirit. We all have one spirit, no superiority over one another; we are all equal in the presence of God, but on Earth, in the function of the marriage institution, there is an administration. We are not talking about marriage today but identity, our origin. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17.
God empowers both the man and the woman to succeed, To be wealthy and healthy, and no one was to be enslaved but to function in the capacity of God our Father the creator. In the eyes of God, we are an exact duplicate copy of Him, His extension to manifest Him on Earth. Praise God. Repeat these words after me. I refuse to be intimidated by any devil, for I know who I am. My origin comes from God. I am not a sinner but a saint. Hallelujah!
Even when Satan stole God’s identity in us through Adam, we got it back, and we have a new identity in Christ. Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
You see, Adam sole his birthright, and that single act affects everyone, not because of what we did. What we called sin today is the manifestation of its nature that we inherited from Adam, but the good news is that God, being so kind, Lovely, and Gracious, sent Christ to re-instate us better than the life of Adam in Genesis 1:26 to 28. Our new birth in Christ is of the incorruptible seed.
For you Have been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever, 1 Peter 1:23.
God is a good God all the time. So we should not use our worst experiences today to redefine God. See, no matter how far we might have fallen from the track, God already knows that will happen, so He already has a plan for you. So before we stop for today, let us look at some scriptures of Christ’s accomplishments.
There is a lot to talk about this our identity thing. The truth is that we struggle in our relationship with God because of our fallen image of ourselves. If you want to benefit from what God has in store for you, then you must focus on your new nature irrespective of your everyday wrong actions. Your wrong actions are motivated by your old spirit, the nature of sin. The Adamic nature; what God sees in you is His very self, the Christ-like. This work through the consciousness of what you know and believe.
Be conscious of who God said He had made you. You become what you focus on. Stop focusing on sin by thinking about what to do or what you might have done wrong. If God judges or relates with us on a sin level, no Christians will ever make heaven because we all think of sin in our minds every second. That we don’t act doesn’t mean we haven’t sinned if we truly follow the definition of sin.
1 Peter 2:24. “He himself bore (carried) our sins” ( singular SIN. The nature of sin which is the nature of Adam) in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ( right standing with God) “by his wounds you have been healed.” (emphasis added.)
2 Corinthians 5:21. For our sake, He (God) made Him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (Made right with God through Christ) (emphasis added.)
Romans 5:18. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. You have a choice to make here. Either focus on what Adam did that automatically made you a sinner or on what Christ has done that enabled you to become right with God.
Ephesians 4:24. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Celebrate the Christ identity in you every minute of your life. Then, go to God with new consciousness and mentality of what you got from Jesus Christ. That is what God wants from us. Our redemption was accomplished two thousand years ago, and all of that redemption’s benefits became available for all who believe. As a result, we have been freed from the power of sin and its consciousness and all its manifestations, including sickness. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. You do this through consciousness, being aware of what God said you are in Christ Jesus.
I AM A HIS CHILD, AND HE IS MY FATHER
So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith Galatians 3:26. In Acts 3:25, when the Apostle Peter was preaching to the Jews, he said, “We are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant….” Peter was speaking spiritually. He didn’t mean they were the children of the Prophets in the sense that they were born by the Prophets’ wives; No. So we need to understand from this that is very important: When he called them the children of the Prophets, he meant children of the promise or the spoken Word.
Now, if they were the children of the Prophets and of the covenants, who then are we? A significant problem in the world today is the identity crisis. Many don’t know who they are. They’re still grappling with the question: Who am I? What am I doing on Earth? What’s my life about? The believers in the early Church didn’t argue with him (Peter) because they knew he was telling them the truth about their identity. They weren’t in the covenant; they were the children of the covenant.
Many Christians celebrate the idea that they’re in covenant with God. No! We’re not in covenant with God; we’re children of the covenant. That’s who we are; we’re the result of the covenant. Galatians 3:27- 29 says, “For as many of you as having been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
The Apostle Paul, in the preceding scripture, lets us know that we’re as much Abraham’s seed as the Jews that Peter addressed in his epistle. The new creation is the actual spiritual seed of Abraham. We’re heirs of the promise. Romans 8:17 says, “…if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ….” That’s who we are; that’s our identity! It’s a present-hour reality.
I AM NOT ASHAMED OF MY IDENTITY
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels Luke 9:26.
The first step of identity is openly declaring that we’re Christians. But some people already have trouble letting everyone know they are identified with Christ. (Politically Correct) They don’t want anyone to know who they are for fear of criticism. Such people wouldn’t be confident enough to announce to their friends and family members that they have received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Some have refused to tell their colleagues or friends for fear of rejection. We can’t live a victorious Christian life that way!
If we’re ashamed to let our friends, family, or colleagues know that we’re born again, Jesus said He would also be ashamed to acknowledge us before God the Father and the angels. I’m sure we don’t want that. Therefore, announce to them and say “Look here, everybody, I’m born again.” That’s the first step to victory. If we desire to enjoy the benefits of Salvation and be committed to Christ, we must be confident about who we are in Him.
Our first declaration of who we are produces a new identity. Also, when we declare who we are before men, the power of God is released through us into our world, creating the right atmosphere around us that will enhance our spiritual growth. Remember, whatever we announce with our mouths is what people will call us. For me, it’s a thing of honor and joy to be identified with Jesus. Irrespective of what anyone thinks, Christians have the most sublime identity. I always walk tall wherever I am, eager to let those around me know I believe in Jesus Christ.
MY TRUE REFLECTION IS IN THE BIBLE
If anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. James 1:23-24.
The Scriptures have many beautiful and glorious descriptions of the new creation. It’s one of the reasons we must study the Bible to know more about the glorious things spoken and written of us in the Word. What name has God called us? Answer that name, for we’ll cheat ourselves if we don’t
In Genesis 17:5, God spoke to Abram and said, “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” “Abram” meant exalted Father, but God had a different plan for him and called him the “father of many nations.”
Abraham immediately adjusted to his new identity, introducing himself by his new name. Some must have made fun of Abraham when he changed his name. Recall also that Sarah, his wife was barren, another hopeless case. But Abraham was fully persuaded by God’s Word and called himself what God had called him. In the same way, we have to learn to agree with God and His Word. We should accept our new identity in Christ. He’s called us holy, righteous, prosperous, victorious, more than a conqueror, etc. So we should Walk in agreement with God, with His description and perception of us. If we do so, our lives will be exceptional.
When Paul wanted to address the Christians in Ephesus, he referred to them as saints and the faithful. Ephesians 1:1. That’s our description as well. If we aren’t a saint, then we’re not born again because saints are those born again. In Colossians 1:22, He calls us holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. We have to accept and walk in the light of these truths, and we will be productive in our faith walk of righteousness.
I am not a sinner but a saint, not because of what I have done or will do but because of what Christ has done for me and in me. He gave me His nature and presented me to His Father as a son like Him. My responsibility is to believe, accept and become conscious of who He said I am. Truly righteous and holy.
