Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Colossians chapter 1 verse 15:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
There is an old story of little Johnny who was at Sunday School drawing during free time. “What are you drawing, Johnny,” his teacher asked. “I’m drawing God.” “Oh, she said, we don’t do that. Nobody has ever seen God.” “I know,” Johnny said, “that’s why I’m drawing you this picture.”
God gave us a self-portrait in Jesus. In Jesus we see what God looks like. There are many conceptions of God in this world. In Jesus we come to understand God in a particular kind of way. By looking to Jesus we see that God is kind, and merciful, and forgiving. By looking to Jesus we see that God is Love.
Elton Trueblood used to say that the truly radical Christian claim is not so much that Jesus is like God, but that God is like Jesus. Many things have been said and done in the name of God. God’s name has been invoked for all manner of evil. This is called blasphemy. God sent Jesus to show us what should really be done in God’s name.
There are others who are like God. There are other expressions of the divine in the world — Moses, Elijah, Paul, Mohammad, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa. For Christians, the ultimate expression of God in this world is Jesus, himself.
Jesus is God’s self-portrait in the world. When we look at Jesus we see the face of God. That’s why God gave us Jesus — so that we would have something to look at and try to look like.
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