Overflow Daily...ish: Imago Dei


"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Genesis 9:6 (ESV) 

Anything coconut flavored, mustard as a condiment, and playing golf are some of things that I probably will never understand why people do. But these are just trivial things and they ultimately do not matter in the grand scheme of things. However, one action which is even more confounding, and breaks my heart severely, is watching a mother while I am preaching at an abortion mill enter into the clinic and leave as a mother of a dead child. How a person could convince themselves that this is the best and only course of action is beyond my comprehension. How they feel no pang, or willingly quench the conviction in their hearts as they murder their own child devastates me. Unfortunately, this is an area of ministry which is overlooked by many Christians. An area of ministry that many with their mouths profess disgust, but by their actions contradict themselves.

And God reveals in this passage, and in many other ones as well, that all life is precious and sacred. And it is not because they are small and defenseless. Nor is it because they are so cute and loveable. But because ultimately every person, whether inside or outside the womb, is in the imago dei (the image of God). No matter what stage of life you are in or level of development you have attained, every person is an imager of God. There are no partial images, nor are there people being made into the image of God. Even though humanity has been tainted by sin, every person still has the mark of their Creator and are called and commanded to reflect His character and nature. And that commission brings new meaning and life to everything we do. We know that, as image bearers, every task and work and assignment is a spiritual exercise of worship.

We are not meant to represent ourselves or bring glory to ourselves; such as the sin of the builders of the tower of Babel. We are meant to bring glory to God. After the flood, God expresses explicitly a long-standing truth that the taking of life is not just an offence to a person, but a direct attack on God. And it is not just the physical taking of life that is to be considered. Jesus explains in the Sermon on the Mount that even our thoughts and words can be like knives to the heart. When we murder others in our hearts, we express our disgust and hatred towards God Himself, for each person is made in the image of God. Our gossiping and slander and curses are directed to the God who created them.

If we are guilty of murder, which every person is, take a moment to repent from this. Recall how great a sinner we all are and that go on in bringing life, not death. As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (Rom 10:15)

Grace and Peace,
-Pastor Alex

If you are considering to end the life of your child, may I just plead with you to reconsider. This is not anything like cutting your hair or swapping out jackets. It is an offense to God and sin against the Creator of life. It is murder and nothing less. But like all sin, there is forgiveness freely offered. Please reach out to pastor located near you to discuss the struggles you are going through before making your decision to end the life of your child. As I mentioned above, you do not stop being a mother, but just become the mother of a dead child. Please consider my words and reach out to a pastor in your area. If there is none near you, please reach out to me at overflowchuch@live.com. If neither is compelling to you, please take some time to watch this short 30 minute film produced by Living Waters (https://www.livingwaters.com/movie/180movie/).

If you have had an abortion, I want you to know that you are not too far from the grace of God. As Paul wrote in Romans 8 "38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If you will repent from all your sins, including the sin of abortion, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins.



If you would like to join the Bible Reading Plan, you can do so by clicking the Connect button under the Group Reading section @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
****************************************************
Check out the new Church Website! www.overflowcup.com
You may also follow Overflow Church by joining the church group @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/

To Subscribe to this blog, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balance

Image
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV) This past weekend (Month even) has been a very busy one. It often happens that when life ramps up, we cut the unimportant things out of our lives in order to accomplish the tasks we identify as most critical. To all my followers, I want to apologize for my having cutting this portion of my life out for a period of time and I will do my best to have more consistency. A years ago, the United States Army deployed a digital "fitness" test to its soldiers and certain respondents received a message that read, "Spiritual fitness may be an area of difficulty. You may lack a sense of meaning and purpose in your life. At times, it is hard for you to make sense of what is happening to you and to others around you. You may not feel connected to something larger than yourself. You may question your
Read more

Satisfaction

Image
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Philippians 4:11b (NIV) This has been a very busy month for me in terms of traveling around. I returned home from Brazil after a long three weeks and, after two days, I now find myself back in a hotel in the great city of Duncan, Oklahoma. Although it is slightly inconvenient to me, in terms of my schedule for studying the word, prayer, and working out to live in a hotel for almost a full month, I have found great comfort in the words from the apostle Paul. A man who has murderous attempts on his life, been imprisoned on multiple occasions, beaten up, shipwrecked three times, and bitten by a snake was able to find a state of contentedness regardless of what situation he was in. Talk about finding complete joy. This is the same joy that the beloved disciple wrote of many times for other believers to embrace. And this is a joy that over the years I have learned to develop and enjoy. That no matter what situation I find
Read more

Light

Image
“And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (ASV) Darkness is not a real thing. Cold is also not a real thing. They are just words that we have made up to define the conditions of an environment or state of existence at a specific period or periods of time. What do I mean then when I say that they are not real things? Well, what I mean is that the darkness that we see (or cannot see because of) is not because it is overwhelming, but because it lacks light. Darkness is the absence of light. When light comes into existence, because light is something real, darkness is expelled. That’s the same with cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat. It is not that it is cold and then at some point it shifts to being hot. It is simply that the heat that exists is too miniscule that it cannot bring warmth to anything. In verse five, we read that God is light, but not a weak source of light
Read more