Word for Wednesday
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Colossians 3:10
Floyd Stewart introduced me one time to two young men who were saved in a series of Gospel meetings that had just concluded. These lads had been involved in a rough life, and the evidence of their sinful ways was still stamped on them. Their complexions were unhealthy, their grooming was poor, their clothes were rough and worn, and they walked about like they were hiding from somebody. Ten years or more later, I met those same two young men, and was amazed at the difference. I would not have known them. Not only were they bright and alert, freshly groomed and neatly dressed, but each was enjoying the company of a pretty young wife. They acted and spoke with confidence, and readily took part in the meetings. The new man was very much in evidence, just as God had created them to be.
We wonder sometimes when we see people who are deep in sinful and destructive lifestyles how we can say that man was created in the image of God. Surely God never intended for people to make such a mess of themselves. But sin broke the image that God created in Eden, and has continued to mar that image in all of Adam’s descendents. That includes you and me. As sinners, we have distorted, twisted, abused, and misused the image that God always wanted us to have. It is only God’s salvation that brings us back into the image we were always intended to display.
Against the disappointment and loss of the old man, with its distortion of God’s image, we see the new man made in the image of God, just as Adam was initially. The new man is put on as soon as we are saved, even if we don’t look like it right away. Our standing before God is as sinless saints, redeemed by the blood of His Son. He can never punish us for our sins, because they have been all taken away. But our standing before God is sometimes not the way we appear in shoe leather. Many Christians struggle with old habits, addictions, companions, and lifestyles from their unregenerate days. Even mature and well-established Christians are beset with the wiles of the devil and the weaknesses of the flesh. We need to be continually putting on the new man when it comes to our day-to-day life.
There is an interesting word that can get missed in our text – knowledge. This is the key to our success in living in the good of the new man. Where do we get this knowledge from? The Word of God! By meditating on the Word, we grow into the image of the One Whom the Word reveals. The One Who is the image of the invisible God provides for us the mirror from which to pattern our lives, according to the knowledge we obtain from His Book.
When a child of God looks into the Word of God and sees the Son of God, the Spirit of God transforms him into the image of God, for the glory of God. -Jim MacIntosh