Friday, May 5, 2017

The Image of the Human Leader

UV 2271/10000 The Image of The Human Leader
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1 v 27

Faith-based, scripture-based answers fill the gaps in the science-based questions that we ask like why did God create us. He created us to be like Him. We are therefore a created being who is to be like the Creator. We are not to cast Him in our image, rather He has cast or moulded us in His image. What are the characteristics of God? He is creative. We are to be creative. He is thoughtful. We are to be thoughtful. Scripture also says that God is love and so, we too are to be loving. God is Spirit and has no physical form. Hence, though we have physical form, our essential nature is spiritual. We are to seek His kingdom, His character, His righteousness and His glory. God brings order out of chaos, form out of shapelessness, light out of darkness, water out of dryness, reason out of confusion, truth out of untruth. We too are to be partners with Him and like Him in bringing order, peace, security and progress out of chaos and darkness. We are a blend of spirit, mind and body, of reason, emotion and action, of thought and imagination.

When man first fell or sinned or came short of the standards of God, the image of God in us was distorted or corrupted. The divine faculties of reason, thought, emotions, imagination, action and reaction became distorted and used for purposes other than what God had designed us for. God out of His great love sent of His own, Jesus the divine Being to be one like us in order to restore us to the fullness of the original image in which we were first created. We are to aim to be the living image of Jesus today for we were created in the image of Jesus. We should cast away every thought, word, emotion, action or reaction that distorts that image of Christ in us.


God created man and placed him in a garden. The word “garden” has hidden in it the phrase, “guard Eden.” We need to guard our inner kingdom of thoughts, feelings, desires as our paradise or Eden. We need to guard our homes, our families, our cities, villages, nations as our Eden or outer paradise lest these become the den of thieves and robbers. We should use not only our reason but our imagination or the ability to project and create images of our own as God does. We are not only to be creative or innovative leaders, we are to be caring leaders or servant leaders like Jesus who subjected the exercise of power to the rule of love. We are to be cautious and prudent leaders in the Eden entrusted to us.

Prateep V Philip

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