Image Bearers

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine wrote a poem expressing his feeling over what had been happening in America the week of all the police shootings and violence in places like Minnesota, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Dallas. His poem, entitled, "A Black Man's Lament," was a passionate plea to help people understand how he feels about all of this. (If you would like to read this poem yourself, click here. The poem begins about half way down the page. The paragraph immediately prior to it explains what he was thinking as well.)

Now if I'm honest with you, the first time I read it I had questions. I was concerned about this man, who was and is a friend, feeling the way he felt as expressed in this poem. My soul was conflicted because of the fact that one side of me was saying, "How can you feel this way in 21st century America?" All the while another side of me was saying, "This is someone you care about who is feeling this way." I decided to reach out and talk to him.

As we talked, I confessed that my understanding was limited, and that I wanted to understand, but was afraid of being offensive with my questions. My friend told me, "Jim, we are not going to be PC here. If we are going to get anywhere, we have to be honest." That was freeing to me, so I asked my questions and he answered and he asked me questions and I answered and when we finished, I was in a better place of understanding.

I then asked him how he thought that the church should respond to all of this. He simply stated, "Jim, we have got to get back to the point where we see each other as image bearers of God."

When we show favoritism, whether in the form of racism, or putting a higher value on people with power or someone affiliated with "our group," we ignore the image of God on that individual. And here's the rub: EVERYONE has that image placed on them. In Genesis 1, God created mankind (the Hebrew word is in the plural) in His own image, and through Adam, we all bear the image of God...no matter who we are.

So today, think about God and the image you bear, and remember that every other person you come in contact with, or see on TV, or hear on the radio, they bear God's image, too.

Leave a comment, and we'll see you on Sunday!!!