Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 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. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
I've probably heard the same thing that everyone else has heard regarding what it means to be an image bearer. I've heard people say that to be an image bearer means that we were given special things that other animals and creatures haven't been given. Usually it is something about how we have the ability to create, and we have intelligence that is different from the animals.
I've also heard that we have an ability to have relationships. We have emotions.
I don't want to take away from these things, but I'd like to try and present something that maybe you haven't heard.
We've seen how over and over again Genesis 1 seems to speak about how God was making Himself a temple. Now God creates humanity as priests. We're given a special charge. Our charge is that we are to have dominion. I think that this is one of those times where being an image bearer is to have a priestly ministry.
We were created in God's image so that we could be that intermediary between God and the creation. We conduct the worship of Creation upward to God, and conduct the love, care, and stewardship of God outward to the world around us. If God needs to speak something to His creation, He speaks through His people. We are like mirrors that display the character of God and the words of God outward to everything we come in contact with.
Think of the implications.
The closer our relationship with Christ, the more we can impact the world around us. But this isn't one of those weird evangelical "you have to be going out and doing" versus "you have to be before you go" things. This is about our righteousness actually affecting the animals. This is about our being in tune with the Spirit, and it actually causes an effect in nature.
What is our spiritual warfare?
Our spiritual warfare is simply to display that light of God (which is the character of God) to every one and everything that we come in contact to. Sometimes the word that needs to be spoken is a harsh word. Sometimes the way that you prune a fruit tree is by cutting it way back. It depends on what is necessary for this particular need.
But how do we know the need?
We learn the needs by learning God. The more we can discover God as He actually is (and not how we desire Him to be, or how others teach us He is), the more we can reflect His character. It takes actually getting to know God. This takes cultivating our relationships with Him to learn His heart, spirit, and character. John tells us in his first epistle that we need to test the spirits at all times.
How do we test the spirits?
To an extent, it is true what many pastors tell us. They use the analogy of bankers. Bankers learn what the authentic looks like, feels like, and smells like. They spend so much time with the truth that when the false comes around, they know its a fake.
This is pretty much exactly how we can interpret and discern the spirits. Beyonce when asked about her performance for the Super Bowl half time, she responded with "I lifted my eyes to heaven, and lifted my arms up, and it was the first time that I felt something come into me. I'm usually really reserved. The Beyonce that you see performing isn't me. That is someone else."
Why is it that so many Christians who watched the Super Bowl didn't have anything to say against her performance? Maybe they thought her outfit was a bit risque.... but other than that, they didn't have anything wrong with the performance or the spirit brought forth from that performance.
Was it the Holy Spirit that came into her? Does the Holy Spirit possess people?
If we don't think that it was the Holy Spirit, then it can only leave one other place that the spirit could come from: darkness.
How many Christians found this to be entertaining?
Yet, John tells us to discern the spirits.
If they can't discern the spirits there when they should be most on their guard, the what about when they're in church? If we can't discern at that time, then who is to say that our discernment is right when we're in church? How much of our "worship" is man made atmosphere? How much of it is a projection of soul and not spirit? How much of our prayer doesn't ever actually go beyond carnality or soul?
This is just something to ponder.
It is easy to check you heart and spirit. Jesus called the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of Truth" and said it will lead us into all truth. And that truth will set you free.
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