By Not Known
Who are you? Consider these views:
- I think therefore I am. (Descartes)
- I am but a monkey shaved. (WS Gilbert – adapted)
- I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul. (WE Henly)
- I am who I am. (Popeye the sailor man)
- I think I am
- IM therefore I am
Some views diminish humanity into a quivering mist of uncertainty, indistinguishable from other species, destined for the cosmic dust of passing millennia and leaving only a virtual footprint. Yet others deify our humanity: how infinite in faculty, in form and moving… how like a god (Hamlet).
Who do you see in the mirror?
It’s now common to say that we are an image of ourselves. Thus we are encouraged that we can be whatever we want to be. The makeover industry goes far beyond a new car , liposuction, hair colouring and cosmetic surgery. There’s a makeover of the heart and mind through various self-improvement programmes to help us be what we want to be from the inside-out. We are the gods of our own image.
The Bible points us to see God’s image in our mirror. He is the great I Am. The basic meaning of the Hebrew word YHWH (that we translate as LORD) is that I am who I am (Ex 3:14). God alone can say that and it was the serpent’s lie to persuade Eve that: … you will be like God … through disobedience (Gen 3:4).
When we see ourselves as God’s creation we are kept from views that either diminish or deify our humanity.
We are not diminished into mere dust, for we alone bear God’s image (Gen 1:26-27). We are each icons of the divine and that gives each of us immense significance. On the other hand, our fundamental reality is that He is God and I am not. We are created and not self-creating. We bear God’s image and not our own. It’s that image which was marred in the fall and which God renews when we are reconciled to him through Christ (Col 3:10).
Always remember whose you are: God is, therefore I am.
David Burke