We are the Idols of the Lord
Lenten Devotional Series Day 8. Today’s meditation comes from Genesis 1:26-31.
“Don’t craft any images,” God repeatedly instructs Israel. What does God have against images? It’s not that he’s hostile to religion. As a matter of fact, the beliefs of ancient Israel shared many religious concepts with her neighbors, such as sacrifices, temples, and a liturgical calendar.
So why the prohibition on idols? Apart from the obvious problem created by images—crafting images leads to idolatry and the worship of false gods—the root of the prohibition lies here: God, it turns out, had already crafted his own. When God made humanity, he created us to be his images, i.e. his “idols”.
The word used in Genesis 1:27 to describe the image of God in humanity is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to refer to idols that represented gods or kings. Seen in this light, God’s prohibition is not against all “idols.” He only prohibits the creation and worship of graven images representing himself or other gods. Meanwhile, when it comes to the images he crafted, he commands us to fill the earth with them. As human images of God, we are to multiply and serve him as stewards of creation.
Imaging God is at the heart of what it means to be human. Greg Beale writes: “All humans have been created to be reflecting beings, and they will reflect whatever they are ultimately committed to, whether the true God or some other object in the created order. Thus… we resemble what we revere, either for ruin or restoration.”
Psalm 115:8 gives us the downside of this equation: “Those who make idols are like them; so are all who trust in them” (compare Ps 135:18). The prophets sometimes taunt Israel’s enemies—and often Israel’s allies or Israel herself—with echoes of this truth: they are just as blind and mute as their wood and metal gods, for those who worship gods will mirror their traits.
The same is true for those who worship contemporary idols, whether fame or greed or the Image of the Roman goddess Libertas (a.k.a. The Statue of Liberty). We can worship freedom and independence so that we become undependable, unreliable, radically unconnected and unable to depend on others, just as others cannot depend on us.
But there is a positive side to becoming like what we worship. The destiny of those in Christ is to look like God, not like idols. We worship him, gazing in awe and wonder at his holiness, righteousness, forgiveness and love. Our whole lives are lived as sacrifices to God, not worthless idols (Rom 12:1-2). And as we worship the True God, we begin to become Truly Human, recreated in the likeness of Jesus, God’s perfect Image (Eph 4:24; Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:12-18, 4:3-6).
Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Then ask the Lord to show you ways that you have become like counterfeit gods in your life, and confess these things to him. Invite him to renew and repair his broken image within you, and by his Spirit to empower you for the work of imaging him to a broken world. Then conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
The Collect of the Day. O Lord, for our sake you fasted forty days and forty nights: give us grace so to deny ourselves that our flesh may become subdued to your Spirit, and that we may always obey your divine will in righteousness and true holiness, to your honor and glory; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.