I always enjoyed playing with Mr. Potato Head simply because I could make him look like anything I wanted him to look like, hmm sounds familiar, I wonder what we see when we look in the mirror? Possibly what we see is the workings of something other than ourselves which gives a perception of their intent. Man’s self-portrait, which is comprised of many pieces such as career, beliefs, culture, and work, seems to be fragmented by insecurities, failures, mistakes and pain to name a few. In the book of Genesis we find Adam seeking to cover up his perception of himself. Ever since then, we have become professional cover-ups. We don’t like ourselves. I don’t like how skinny I am, how fat I am, my eyes, and my hair. So we try to cover up what we don’t like. Tom Keller in his book “Counterfeit Gods” says we are all broken and we try to fix our brokenness, or hide our brokenness, by investing in false images of who we are, so we turn to false images to restore a sense worth, importance and security.1 In our present culture, our lives are driven by false expectations of success, fame and fortune. With so much to offer, our culture makes goods available that cause people to depend on external support structures. Michael Slaughter refers to this mindset of external support; everything in today’s culture says they are the must essentials for success and that you cannot survive without them.2 The implication is that our present cultural lives are transitional and superficial. We are driven by the outward demands which dictate what we do and how we live. Myles Monroe says three things in particular transpired in relationship to how man viewed his world, we were designed to live from the inside to the outside, from his spirit to his body. God designed man to be led by his Spirit, not driven by his environment. Man was intended to live through spiritual discernment, not physical senses.3 Man’s spirit relates to God spiritually through worship. Man’s soul relates to the mental realm of knowledge and man’s physical body relates to his physical environment. What was created for relationship and enjoyment now has become a prison, when God and Christianity are transformed to a human distorted image, it is idolatry that not only hides the face of God but also destroys relationships and takes the enjoyment out of life.4 With the fall of man we find a disconnection with God and a false connection with His environment. Man’s life becomes ruled by his external environment as his physical senses control his existence. Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked (Genesis 3:7). The word knew is in association with the word knowledge, so man began to live his life from the knowledge he gained through his physical senses. From that day on, man measured his life, worth and value by his environment. Man started living and interpreting his existence according to the information he gained through the senses of his body, instead of the revelation received through his Spirit from the Spirit of God.5 Man is driven because he seeks to gratify a craving that only God can satisfy, as Tim Keller writes…so many of us feel lost, alone, disenchanted, and resentful. But the truth is that we made lesser gods of these good things – gods that can’t give us what we really need 6. As with the children of Israel who made an image of a golden calf and sought to worship it, man throughout the ages has sought to make his idols, as Tim Keller defines an idol is anything we seek to give us what only God can give. The Prophet Jeremiah reveals the heart of man when he says the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? the Bible tells us that the human heart is an “idol-factory,” We take good things and treat them like God, like they have the power to heal our brokenness and make us whole, important, and valuable.7 When God is denied and dethroned, something else is formed in His place, as John Hicks writes these false and unworthy ideas and concepts about God leave you without hope and purpose. You cannot satisfy your “built in” desire for God by replacing God with a man-made image and not the true image of God.8

God’s image in man has been distorted through his fall. Our culture encourages a prison of false perceptions, measurements and size is the gauge we use to measure status in our society. There seems to be a widening of the gap. Women in our culture feel the greatest pressure. In the 1950s models weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. In the 1990s models weighed 23 percent less. Some 2.5 million people had cosmetic surgery last year. Self-worth is received through the perception of others, accomplishments and unrealistic standards. In our changing times consideration must be given concerning culture and the spiritual influence of the church. The Church must remember that Jesus came not to save cultures but people, and he came to transform them into his likeness.

1 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods. (N.Y. N.Y.: Penguin Group, 2009) p. 65
2 Michael Slaughter, Unlearning Church (Nashville Tn.:Abingdon Press, 2002) p.101
3 Myles Monroe, Understanding Your Potential (Shippenburg PA: Destiny Image, 1991 p.146
4 http://www.faithencounter.com/what_kind_of_god.htm
5 Myles Monroe, Understanding Your Potential (Shippenburg PA: Destiny Image, 1991 p. 148
6 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods. (N.Y. N.Y.: Penguin Group, 2009) p. xxiii
7 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods. (N.Y. N.Y.: Penguin Group, 2009) p. xxiii
8 John David Hicks, What Kind of God Do You Serve?

Malfunction Junction

Just north of the Sunshine Skyway in Gulfport, drivers briefly drive on the left side as the freeway’s lanes invert for about 1/2 mile. Because of a failed effort in the 1970s to convert the Gandy corridor into a freeway, the Gandy Boulevard Interchange is technically incomplete. Two ramps were added in 1979 to eliminate illegal U-turns, but the interchange has not changed since. The only major interchange on I-275 is with I-4, just north of downtown Tampa. Known locally for years as “Malfunction Junction”, the interchange quickly became full of daily rush hour backups due to the sprawling growth of the Tampa Bay area and the lack of capacity causes a great amount of traffic jams and accidents. This reminds me of another malfunction junction we find in the book of Genesis concerning Adam and Eve. In the early chapters of Genesis there is no indication of the distortion of man’s perception of God. The moment sin entered, we find God looking and calling out for man. As David Henderson referring to man’s image says, when man becomes preoccupied with man, God is not actively rejected but eclipsed, nudged aside. The words that proceed from the lips of man gives us the first indication of distortion and his new found awareness and preoccupation with himself, I was afraid, I was naked and I hid, which gives us reference to his fear, shame and insecurity. They hid themselves from God and said, “I was afraid.” Their sin “fogged up” their lens, distorting God and others. They read into God their own feelings of guilt and shame.1 The image of God in humans was deeply marred or distorted by the fall. Men and women died spiritually. Humanity’s relationship with God was ruptured, as well as interpersonal relationships. Man’s fall is evidenced by the marks of distortions. Wayne Grudem contends that moral purity was lost, replaced by a sinful nature. Personality was corrupted, producing an array of psychological problems. Knowledge was degraded by false philosophies and vain imaginations. Emotions were turned to selfish desires. Creativity was despoiled by evil purposes and pursuits.2 With the fall of man, there is something that has changed, we are still in God’s image—we are still like God and we still represent God—but the image of God in us is distorted; we are less fully like God than we were before the entrance of sin.3 We are distorted and perceive our world by the distortion of ourselves, according to what we perceive and not what God’s truth declares. The deception of the enemy has distorted man’s self-concept. We are an identity driven society who has lost the right source, so rather than being who we are, there is a constant pressure to create and sustain an identity that we perceive to be popular and accepted.
There is a constant tug-of-war between which involves being conformed to an image and being transformed in true self to the image of God. In the book of Romans Paul gives a strong exhortation, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The word rendered “conformed,” according to Barnes, properly means to put on the form, fashion, or appearance of another. It may refer to anything pertaining to the habit, manner, dress, style of living. Man’s original image and likeness was distorted through the fall of man. The separation brought a distortion because man no longer has a right reflection of whose image he was created in. It is through a restored relationship with God, through the redemption of Christ, that man’s image can be restored. Through sanctification, the believer in Jesus Christ progressively grows in godliness, conforming more and more to the likeness of God (2 Corinthians 3:18). It involves our response to God’s great grace and His continuing work through the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying process. Colossians 3:10 exhorts us, where we are exhorted to put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator.

1 http://www.faithencounter.com/what_kind_of_god.htm
2,3 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), p. 446, 444

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