What do others perceive about God … when they observe you?
Your life may be the first or the primary picture of God that some people see. The things you do, the words you speak, the way you dress, the friends you choose, the attitude you display at work, the interactions you have with your neighbors, and even the way you walk inevitably paint a picture for others who are watching. It’s not just a picture of you; it’s a picture of God, edited, filtered, or “Photoshopped” through your life.
Once you realize that your life is not about you, but rather about Him, your whole perspective changes. Instead of asking yourself, “How does this or that make me look? What will others think of me when they see this or hear this?” You ask, “How does this make God look? What will others think of Him when they see this or hear this?”
Yahweh (the Lord) made each of us, male and female, in His image (Ge 1:26f). That conveys the idea, not only that we already resemble Him in some ways, but also that we are intended to resemble Him in every way that we possibly can. We are, in a very real sense, God’s representatives here on earth.
Of course, Jesus as God in the flesh did this perfectly. So, He could say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Though we are merely imperfect, sinful human beings and not divine, our aim is to live so that others see God in our lives. The hymn, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” written by Adelaide A. Pollard, includes the prayer, “Fill with Thy Spirit, ‘til all shall see, Christ only, always, living in me.”
Jesus put it this way: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16). Peter added by inspiration, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Pe 2:12).
Likewise, the Holy Spirit led Paul to urge first-century slaves “to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect” (Ti 2:9-10). That word “adorn” translates the Greek word cosmeo, from which we derive the words “cosmetics” and “cosmetology.”
What a concept! Our lives can “adorn” or “beautify” the gospel message.
Consider what a young child concludes when hearing that God is their “heavenly Father.” That boy or girl is likely to suppose that God is similar in some important ways to their own earthly father. A father’s realization of this connection can revolutionize his heart, his teaching, and his behavior. He is showing God the Father to his child!
If that father is godly, holy, faithful, kind, generous, fair, firm, and consistent, in that sense he makes God look good! The child thinks, “My heavenly Father must be like that.” If, however, that father is rude, short-tempered, selfish, and worldly, he distorts and tarnishes the image of God that his child sees. He makes God look bad.
Sadly, the Bible records how God’s people sometimes made God look awful, so that the nations even blasphemed or cursed God.
While studying the life of King David in our Bible class, I noted again how his behavior made God look, that is, how his actions reflected on Yahweh and affected others’ view of Him. After David’s sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent death of her husband Uriah which David arranged, the prophet Nathan told him, “… by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme …” (2 Sa 12:14, NASB 95). In other words, the pagan unbelievers who opposed God would show utter contempt for Him because of what David had done.[1]
Paul noted that, though his fellow Jews knew God’s Law, and proclaimed God’s Law, they rejected it by their behavior (Ro 2:17-29). As a result, he wrote, “‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ just as it is written” (Ro 2:24). In other words, their conduct made God look bad in the eyes of their pagan neighbors.
Paul was quoting the prophet Isaiah, who lived and preached in Judah in the 700s BC. Yahweh had said through Isaiah that, because of Judah’s sin, the Babylonians would capture and exile God’s people. Not only that; the Babylonians would mock, belittle, and blaspheme Israel’s God (Is 52:5).
God later said through the prophet Ezekiel that, when that exile did occur, Judah profaned (defiled, made common or unclean) His name among the nations. Judah made God look bad! He would bring the people of Judah back home, not for Judah’s sake, but for the sake of His own name, to restore His name in the sight of the nations.
Eze 36:20 “When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.’ 21 “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. 22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
In the hymn, “The Love of God,” Laurene Highfield penned these powerful words: “We His glory must reflect, lest our dimness and neglect keep some soul from its God.”
Using a different analogy, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).
That reminds me of a poem, “The Gospel According to You,” written by Arthur McPhee.
The Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Are read by more than a few,
But the one that is most read and commented on
Is the gospel according to you.
You are writing a
gospel, a chapter each day,
By the things that you do and the words that you say.
Men read what you write, whether faithless or true,
Say, what is the gospel according to you?
Do men read His truth
and His love in your life,
Or has yours been too full of malice and strife?
Does your life speak of evil, or does it ring true?
Say, what is the gospel according to you?
On the one hand, God’s glory is infinite and unstoppable. Ultimately, all will see Him in His full majesty and splendor. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess His Name (Is 45:23; Rom 14:11; Phil 2:9-11). There is no doubt!
However, between now and then, you and I have a lot to do with the way that other people see the Lord. The way we live as Christians before a watching world portrays God, or paints a picture of God.
When others see our resemblance to Christ, they are much more likely to want our relationship with Christ. May our behavior form a bridge to the Lord and never create a barrier that keeps others from knowing Him.
So, go out today and every day … and make God look good!
[1] According to the ESV translation, it was David himself, not God’s enemies, who scorned or blasphemed the Lord by his actions. The Hebrew verb form used in this verse can have a causative sense. It can either mean “to scorn” or “to cause [others] to scorn.” So, David’s sin either expressed or caused utter disregard for Yahweh.
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