Made in His Image
Colossians 3:8-10
“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
Can you imagine yourself in the image of our Creator?
God is LOVE! The image of LOVE! What would that look like?
Thankfully, we have the perfect example - Jesus modeled that image for us!
So, to present ourselves in the image of LOVE (like Jesus), we must start by removing all our old selfish clothing – including the robes of anger and rage, the shoes of malice and slander, and the belts of nasty thoughts and words.
Having removed these, we must consciously dress ourselves each morning in the new image of Jesus. When attired in our new self – the image of LOVE, we can move through our day with peace, wearing LOVE and the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:14-17.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Dressed in this new self, our best image of Jesus, we can be renewed daily in the image of our creator. We will find the strength to be able to forgive as the Lord forgave us. And wearing God’s loving image, we will breathe out PEACE, and share LOVE, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We will be made new and will help God to make others new as well.
Please pray with me – “Dear Loving God, help me to remember to take off my old self each morning and to put on the new self that you gave me when I came to believe in your LOVE! Help me to wear that beautiful image of Jesus every single day and to never forget to share as generously as you have shared with me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
This devotion was written and read by Bernice Howard.
Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.
If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.
First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Bernice Howard, your host for today's podcast. Our scripture for today is Colossians 3, 8 through 10. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these-- anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Can you imagine yourself in the image of our creator? God is love, the image of love. What would that look like? Thankfully, we have the perfect example. Jesus modeled that image for us. So to present ourselves in the image of love, like Jesus, we must start by removing all our old selfish clothing, including the robes of anger and rage, the shoes of malice and slander, and the belts of nasty thoughts and words. Having removed these, we must consciously dress ourselves each morning in the new image of Jesus. When attired in our new self, the image of love, we can move through our day with peace, wearing love, and the armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6, 14 through 17. Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness and place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Dressed in this new self, our best image of Jesus, we can be renewed daily in the image of our Creator. We will find the strength to be able to forgive as the Lord forgave us. And wearing God's loving image, we will breathe out peace and share love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We will be made new and will help God to make others new as well. Please pray with me. Dear loving God, help me to remember to take off my old self each morning and to put on the new self that you gave me when I came to believe in your love. Help me to wear that beautiful image of Jesus, every single day, and to never forget to share as generously as you have shared with me. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Today's podcast was written and recorded by Bernice Howard. Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. I'm Reverend Sarah Slack, Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. Our church is a vital, vibrant congregation, sharing the love of Jesus Christ to our community and to God's world. This podcast was written and produced by the people of our congregation. To know more about this ministry or other ministries of our church, please visit our website at firstchurch.org. That's the number one, STchurch.org. Join us again for the next episode. And until then, bear witness to the love of God in this world so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you most generous friends. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
