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God's Self Portrait

God’s Self-Portrait

In a way, we could say the Gospels form a self-portrait of God. He could have just given us the letters of Paul which are very clear about what the gospel is and how we come to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But He chose to give us the Gospels, as well. Together, the Gospels give us a glimpse into the mind and heart of God through the biographical accounts of the man, Jesus, from four different perspectives.

Many of us use images primarily for entertainment and pleasure. The electronic and print media fire a continuous barrage of illusory, disposable pictures to pleasure our senses and intellect. Jesus, the true image or likeness of God, is not like this. He is real and permanent. He is engaging, intriguing, and fascinating. As you look at Jesus seriously, studying Him with the intent to see God, you will find exhaustless depth.

Things like the Law, the Covenants, and the Tabernacle are all images of God in one way or another, but Jesus gives us the best picture of God because, as a person, He reveals the personality of God in a way other pictures couldn't. He is so unlike us, we feel totally inadequate in our attempts to understand Him at all. What we learn about God from Jesus is that God is a person. He is not some impersonal force, He is a relational being. God is very different from us, His human creation, but He did make us in His image. There are some things about Him that we can grasp because of this. We do need to be wary about trying to extrapolate too much about God by looking at ourselves, because we are fallen creatures. We project a distorted image of God.

That's why looking at Jesus is so important. As a fellow human being we can relate to Him entirely. But as a sinless human being, who, as Hebrews 1:3 tells us is "the exact representation of His being," He gives us an accurate image of God. To know what God is like, look at Jesus. To know how God reacts to you, look at how Jesus reacted to people like you. To know how God feels about certain behaviours, look at how Jesus reacted to those behaviours. We'll look at an example.

Many of us feel overworked and tired these days. Perhaps you have been labouring under the misapprehension that no matter how much you do, God demands that you do more. How does God really react to those who are physically and emotionally stretched to the limit. Let's look at Jesus to find out. On one occasion, we find Jesus issuing this invitation. "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 Here we find that first of all, Jesus recognises that many of us do work hard and are burdened down with all kinds of obligations. Second, He suggests that getting out from under our own load of expectations and taking on His yoke will result in our being able to rest, because as He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

We all know people and businesses that make extravagant claims about being able to help us with this product or that, or in this way or that. How did Jesus respond to those He loved when they were weary. The example we'll look at comes from Mark 6. The disciples had just returned from an intensive missionary venture. They were out there on their own, responding to people, dealing with needs, serving. In verse 30 we read: "Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves" (Mark 6:30-32).

When we're overworked and tired, God knows we need rest. Driving ourselves to exhaustion, ruining relationships through neglect, abusing our physical and emotional resources to be more productive is not God's idea. By looking at how Jesus taught His disciples to work and rest we can learn what God expects of us.

This is just one area of life in which we see Jesus serving as a self-portrait of God. It's all we have time for now, but in our day, when being over-committed and too busy to enjoy life is considered normal, it is a good place to start.

Ron Hughes
© May 2008