It is the face of Christ—the image of the Father—who I would urge you to set your minds on as a far more compelling, beautiful, captivating, thrilling, striking image than any other.
So, that can be done in private, family and public worship, as we picture Christ in our minds.
However, this is not the only way of seeing Christ…
In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul tells us that part of being a Christian is to do with ‘being conformed to the image of God the Father’s Son’. And one application of that has to do with the means of grace that is spending time in fellowship with other Christians. When you look at a Christian, you are looking at someone who is being conformed to the image of Christ. So, be moved as you see them loving their neighbour as themselves; as you see them joyfully worshipping the Living God; as you hear them tell you that they are in pain, but at peace in the midst of tragedy in their lives; as you see how patient they are with their kids; as you experience their kindness shown to you in practical good-deeds; as you hear of their goodness in the way they speak of Christ; in their gentle answers which turn away wrath; in their faithfulness to God the Father in every decision they make; in their self-control despite a thousand opportunities to fall into sin. Every Christian is a work in progress, becoming more and more like the image of the invisible God. Pursue the Christian who are most like him, and spend as much time with them as you possibly can.
But don’t despair as you think about how little you resemble the image of the invisible God. Because—as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15—on the day of resurrection, that is the day when we will perfectly ‘bear the image of the man of heaven’. Right now, even the holiest of saints is something of a twisted image of Jesus.
Finally, use this knowledge of Christ, the better image, to give you patience as you pray for those who have not yet seen him, or those who have forgotten how beautiful he is. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4 that—
the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
And when we are more tempted to chase after other images, than the image, then let’s remember that we need to ask the Holy Spirit to lift the veil from our minds, and show us the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God.
May we see that he is Lord, and live always and only as his servants, for his sake.
