The excerpt was then extracted with permission from Jen Wilkin’s renewed book, published by Fiel Editor.
Walking through an antique shop about 15 years ago, I found a small green ceramic vase, beautifully shaped. My favorite color is green, so I decided to buy this vase for the sale price: ten dollars. At a closer inspection, I saw the name. ? Mccoy? Embossed at its base. A little more research revealed that I had made a good purchase: my little McCoy ceramic vase was worth four times what I had paid, but I loved it simply because it made me happy when I saw it full of flowers from my garden, on the table, at the entrance to the house. It forms and works in harmony.
- But 15 years ago I had four young children at home and on a fateful day my vase fell to the ceramic floor.
- Broke.
- But not quite.
- To the point that it cannot be repaired.
- And with greater sadness than I could recognize it.
- I released the pieces with superpegament.
- But their days of loading flowers and water were officially over.
- Today.
- The vase is on a shelf in my room.
- On the base.
- It’s still written? Mccoy? And it still has a format that declares its beauty and purpose.
- But its ability to do what was created so far is limited.
- The closer you get to it.
- The more obvious its cracks become.
- And today.
- I wouldn’t make ten bucks for that.
- No matter how hard I try.
- But I still love it.
- Broken or not.
Somehow, we’re ourselves like this cracked boat. Think of the rhythmic narrative of the history of creation in Genesis 1 For five days we heard God say, “There?And everything he declares immediately becomes existential?” Light and darkness, earth, sea, sky and all kinds of plants and animals take their place in the right order. On the sixth day of creation, the rhythm of the story is visibly broken. The word? Does it become? Let’s do it. And the history of creation becomes wonderfully personal and distinct. And wonderfully poetic:
“God created man in his image, in the image of God created him;
man and woman created them. (Genesis 27)
God created mankind and left his mark on us. He created us as bearers of his image, so that we could be his representatives at work, in leisure, and in worship. Shape and function in perfect harmony. And even after the devastating catastrophe of Genesis 3, we still bear his image, even if we do not work, rest, or worship as we should. Do we still have value for him?We are cracked vessels, designed to show beauty, although we escape through every crack. God redeems the bearers of his image when He sends His Son as the perfect bearer of his image. Is Christ the radiance of glory and the exact expression of his Being, sustaining all things with the word of his power?(Hebrews 1. 3). For every cracked ship that is miraculously restored by grace, this is the answer to the best question: “Who should it be?”
What is God’s will for your life?In short, be like Christ!” For to those you met beforehand, have you also predestined them to fit the image of your Son, that he may be the firstborn among many brothers?(Rom. 8. 29). It is God’s will that the cracks in the image that lead to be repaired, so that we may represent him as we were created to be, that we may grow more and more in the likeness of our older brother, Christ, in whose form and function they are flawless. “This is the image of the invisible, firstborn God of all creation?(Cl 1:15). As such, it serves as a model and guide: “Why were ye called to do this, for Christ also suffered in your place, leaving you an example to follow in His footprints?(1 P. 2. 21). As the Apostle John pointed out, “Whosoever says that he remains in him must also walk like him?(1Jn 2. 6). If we want to be like him, we have to walk like him.
With good theology and a touch of humor, Jen Wilkin shows us that the main question we should ask ourselves is not “What is God’s will for my life?”, but “Who should it be?”And the Bible has the answer: to be like the very image of God.
Exploring ten communicative attributes of God: holy, loving, good, just, merciful, merciful, faithful, patient, true, and wise, Wilkin helps us understand who God wants us to be. Through Christ, the perfect reflection of God’s image, we discover how these attributes affect our way of life, leading us to the freedom and purpose He has for our lives when we follow His will and conform to His image.
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