Week Ten of Cultivate Delight, where we are actively planning our spiritual endeavors this coming week with the goal of a consistent time spent engaging our hearts with Christ in his word, in prayer, and in reflection. Below are some starting points for reflection, and I hope you find them helpful. The goal is to not rush through these and then get on with your day. Take your time and reflect throughout the week on these items. Come back often and let your heart be refreshed in the love of Christ for you.
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
– C.S. Lewis
Bible Reading
Liturgy – Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 10: How did God create man?
God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. (Gen. 1:26–28, Col. 3:10, Eph. 4:24)
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (ESV)
But the simplest thing, the plainest thing, and, in fact, for me the most practical thing, and the way it has an actual effect on my life, is to say images are created to image. If you create an image, if you make a sculpture of someone, you do it to display something about that someone. You put it in the square in the middle of town, and you want people to look at it, notice it, think about that person, think something about them — that they were noble or strong or wise or courageous or something.
John Piper, Podcast Episode 153
Prayer
Heavenly Father. Our great Creator.
You have created us in your image.
Our lives have special meaning and context.
We are not just random creatures without purpose.
We are not inconsequential creatures of happenstance.
We are not just mere atoms and molecules knitted and fitted together.
We are created in your image and likeness.
We not only reflecting something special and unique about our Lord.
We are in our body, mind, and soul the very likeness of our Creator.
Every person is a unique representation of our holy God.
Teach us to value each person and treat them as a worthy.
Worthy of our attention and love as true images of our holy and precious God.