I love natural beauty. Sunsets are the most captivating thing for me. I could spend a life time snapping pictures of sunsets. I also love watching what that sunset reflects off of. Yesterday, I watched the sunset reflect in an amzing way off of a car window.
I love when beauty reflects.
Reflections are simple reminders to me of what Jesus was for the father. Jesus was, and is, the reflected essences of the father.
I have spent the past two weeks diving into my new bible. New pages to run my fingers over and new words to underline. It has been refreshing. I have been drawn by new phrases this go around. I have been captivated by the words of Jesus every time he says, “if you have seen me, you have seen the father,” and “if you know me, you know the father.” Jesus was, and is, the reflection of God.
One of my favorite verses also speaks to this reflection idea when Jesus is praying to the father in John 17. Jesus states, “Righteous father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know you have sent me. I have made you know to them and will continue to make you known.”
We know the father because Jesus showed us who he is by his life and words. Jesus made the father known by his life. Jesus is “the image of an invisible God.”
This is true for our lives as well. We were created in God’s image. We reflect what God looks and sounds like. He is the sunset and we are the glass top lakes and car windows. We reflect his beauty in our lives. We make him known.
I desire for my life to be the reflection of who God is so bad. I desire for people to know who God is by the reflection of my life. That is no small responsibility. I want to aspire to the same place where Paul boldly said, “imitate me.”
We are the image of the invisible God. As we get to know him, we are also making him known.
How are you reflecting who God is?
” I love when beauty reflects” < —– Have I mentioned in the last 10 minutes how much I love how you see the world? Have I mentioned that you find these creative ways to open up the center of gravity of the biblical text and it bursts into beautiful bloom before me? Have I mentioned how much I learn from how you see the world friend?
You have so much wisdom to share… God has given you a depth of perspective on His word that is absolutely captivating. I learn when I come to your blog, every.single.post…. you challenge my heart to go deeper and my eyes to look closer at our Father.
I'm so grateful. Thank you friend.
Thank you friend! You are always encouraging. I really appreciate you for that gift.
I always look forward to hearing what God days to you. Thank you for your faithfulness to tell me your thoughts on here. Thankful!
I don’t think I’m reflecting him well right now. It is the desire of my heart to know him well and to make him known…but i feel like that’s where it’s stopping right now in me. my hands are limp and lifeless. i’m not trying (hard enough, if im even trying at all) to love people deeply or to share my heart or to just be real. yeah, every aspect of this semester has been difficult for me. but that’s even more of a reason to make Him known and act out of my relationship with Him.
grr. but my goal is to, with God’s grace, reflect God more and more and more each day…especially this last and high-stress week. I want to know Him and act like I know Him.
i’ve always felt like a very poor reflection. somehow it got ingrained in me that my “not-enough” complex and my tumultuous life can’t possibly reflect God very well.
i mean, the image in my head is always a body of water that is so still and smooth it looks like glass. you can see a perfect reflection of the sky above and the landscape around it. it’s like a mirror, it’s so clear.
obviously my life and my heart are the complete opposite of that picture. i’m broken. and messy. and stormy. definitely not a pristine, smooth, glossed-over lake.
but the wonder is: God can miraculously use even the stormy sea of my life to reflect His glory.
He’s not waiting for all the conditions to be perfect, for the rocky waves of my life to stop, for everything to be just right so i can finally start reflecting Him. in the way only He can do, He somehow gets more glory when i reflect Him in the midst of the storm. and He can leverage anything for His glory if I will surrender it to Him.
reflection comes only from surrender…
and therein lies the challenge for my heart.
it amazes me how much perception plays a part in reflection. you see yourself as not being a reflection; not worthy enough to considered as his reflection. hundreds would disagree with you. I watch you every day be his reflection. I watch small and deep things resonate with anyone that you put out there. i wish you could see just how much people are drawn to you and your reflection of who he is. You are right in that God uses all things. He uses those storms to bring his glory; he leverages those things in our lives to make the most glory out us for him. You are reflecting him more of him then you will ever know.
i appreciate that about our friendship. I respect and admire how much you reflect him in your questioning and wrestling. You are leading. You are influencing. you, my sweet friend, are reflecting depth of him in you.
Whoa, this was good and sobering all at the same time. I, like you, want this SO badly. I feel like I do okay but I definitely fall short.
I’ve got the brother/friend thing down pretty well but I want to reflect his beauty for those that are hard to love. Those that are broken. Those that don’t want to be loved.
That’s my heart. That’s my goal. That’s what I want to reflect.
[...] wish my life reflected a rested assurance of a belief that my God is for me. I wish I could say that I have known more [...]