Issue 910 – Sour Apples – November 10, 2022
Standing in the front yard of our old house was a beautiful crab apple tree. The pink blossoms were a lovely highlight to the large white house in the spring.
The tree was primarily ornamental in purpose. The fruit was small, hard, seedy and extremely bitter. It had no value other than some of the birds ate in, and the deer occasionally browsed there when food was short.
Many things in life are like that crabapple tree, pretty to look at but otherwise somewhat useless.
Unfortunately, in our society today, we put a great deal of emphasis on how things look or appear to be. That is part of the appeal of social media. People can create what portrays the “ideal” version of themselves by picking and choosing what they post.
People have formed some idea of who I am through my posts. It’s an incomplete picture. I’m not typically going to post an image of me in my pyjamas, three days into a flu bug, bleary-eyed, unshaven and with severe bedhead. I might not be fashion model material at the best of times, but I probably won’t show myself at my worst. You are likely not so different. You might post pictures of you and the family at the beach, but even then, you highlight only the most flattering.
Instead of concentrating on what the world wants us to be or what we think an idealized version of ourselves ought to be, we should consider who we are in God’s eyes.
We are created in the image of God.
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
We are chosen.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6
We are redeemed.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7
We are the children of God.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3
We are works in progress.
I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6
We are secure.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:27-30
There is much more to say on the subject, but I recommend you search the Scriptures. Believers are so much more than we might appear to be to ourselves and others. God’s idealized version of us exceeds our wildest imaginations.
Let’s ground ourselves and our sense of self in the Creator of Heaven and earth.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2022 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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