This week we had the pleasure of visiting with Don and Jodi Wright. They too have suffered the wrath of the flu. While we were there, Don showed us some of the traditional leatherwork and beading, including purses and scabbards, he had completed and even won prizes for. The workmanship was gorgeous. Looking at the painstaking artistry, I could not help but think of the craftsmanship God exhibits daily through His creation of man. After God finished creating the earth and all it contains, He decided to do something extra-special.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. -Genesis 1:27
God decided to use Himself as a model for His masterpiece. Mankind exemplifies the image of the Creator. While we are not perfect but marred by sin, we share His attributes and emotions. He was not finished designing though.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hand—remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
-Ephesians 2:10-13
Christians are erected into the image of Christ. Through this action, He molded us into a design that would bring Him glory and honor as we sought to do good works. He connected those willing to come to Him with His chosen people. It is through the blood of Jesus that mankind has hope, has been redeemed. and has been molded into an image pleasing to the Father.
Don Wright’s handiwork shows meticulous care and patience. That is evident when looking at the finished products. God’s handiwork is the same. Examining the life of a long-time Christian, the fingerprints of God are evident. A person is transformed into the image of Christ as they observe the glory of the Lord.
Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. -2 Corinthians 3:17-18
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
-Colossians 1:13-15
In both of these passages, the word Paul uses in this passage for image is “eikona” which can also be translated “icon or statue.” Jesus is that “icon, image, statue” of God. As a Christian spends time with Christ in study, prayer, and practice, they begin to resemble the “statue” in whose image we were created.