A Reflection Of His Image
I am enjoying a beautiful spot in the creation of God. The water is beautiful and with nature all around me, I can do nothing but enjoy. The heat is a little challenge from time to time, but it is overshadowed by the surrounding beauty. God’s creation is an awesome thing.
Next to me on several campsites, an extended family is nestled in, enjoying one another and the same beauty we behold here. They are wonderful people who obviously love God more than they love themselves.
The closest neighbor, Danny, is a wonderful man. He is a man who lives what he believes. He is one of those guys you just know after a few moments together. I’ve watched and I’ve listened and I see in him a reflection of the Image of God, as it is supposed to be in man’s created purpose. God created us in His Image that we might be a reflection of Him in what we say and do in life.
If Danny sees a need, he is there to deal with it. He doesn’t have to be asked. He just does it. I watched him as he did that with me. I had to replace some rails on a boat trailer. He jumped in and offered tools and assistance. Anita and I went out on the water in the boat for a little while, and when I returned I found the rails already disassembled, set aside and awaiting the new ones to be installed. Danny had removed the old ones and would have covered the new ones with the protective carpet and reinstalled them, but the parts to do that were locked up in my truck.
When I came out the next morning to cover the rails and install them, he saw me, grabbed his tools and headed toward me. A good morning greeting and a whirl of the battery operated impact gun and he was shining.
Why would a man do such a thing? He doesn’t owe me anything. We haven’t been friends for years. He doesn’t really know me and I don’t really know him. But, you see, it wasn’t about me. It was that Image thing. When a life is lived reflecting the Image of God, in which we’re created and for which we we’re created to reflect, it just comes out. I saw Danny’s body working on my trailer, but more importantly, I saw God displaying His image through Danny. Was it a religious moment? No! Was it a moment of praise and worship? YES!
Religion as we seem to understand it, gets in our way more than it helps us. We let religious systems define what is good and right and what God wants us to do. But, reflecting His Image can happen anywhere and in any circumstance. We did not bow at the boat trailer and sing “Amazing Grace”, nor did we pray for world peace. We simply worked together, two believers side by side and demonstrated unity and love to any who looked on. Was that our agenda? No! Fixing the boat trailer was the agenda. Was I trying to get him to come to church with me or was he trying to get me to go to church with him? No! We were trying to fix a cotton picking boat trailer.
Now, do you know what happened? Two things at least. One, we got the boat trailer fixed, the support rails are new as well as the covering. Now it will live for a little while longer until they rot and need replacing again.
But, the greater thing that happened was that God was on display. His Image was shining through two sweaty men working in the heat together. Worship and praise was shouted and displayed for all to see and hear. We were not singing “How Great Thou Art”, nor were we reciting the Lord’s Prayer. We were repairing a cotton picking boat trailer. There was no church building with loads of people. There was just Danny and me.
Danny was the preacher. He didn’t open his Bible. He opened the box his DeWalt impact gun was in and preached from it. He allowed God to work through him and worship was at its finest as he drove in the fasteners holding those rails in place.
I don’t know all about Danny. As a matter of fact, I know very little compared to what could be known. But, because Danny allowed God’s Image to be reflected through his life, I know God better. I watched God work on my boat trailer through His Image in Danny. And, I am a better man because I met Danny.
God created us in His Image to be, through us, reflections of Himself. Humbling? You bet. But if you think about it, it was a tremendous show of love and trust when God gave us His image. If He loved and trusted us enough to give it, shouldn’t we show our love and trust in Him by reflecting it for others to see?
We are a living, walking mirror with the created purpose of being a reflection of the Image of God. It is an awesome responsibility and must always raise a question in our minds: “What is seen in my mirror?”