Seven Metaphors for Our Metamorphosis

UV 3738/10000 Seven Metaphors For Our Metamorphosis And to this people you shall also say, “ Thus says the Lord, “ Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.” Jeremiah 21 v 8 The way of life that the Lord God has set before us, as mentioned in this uni-verse, is none other than Jesus Christ. This is the reason, Jesus said, “ I am the Way, the Truth and the Life..” He is the way of truth and life or the way to live truthfully. He is the straight and narrow road that we should take. Once we are on this Road, the other metaphors that Jesus employed to explain His role take effect in our lives- The Door ( to salvation, eternal life), The Bread of Life, (our holistic needs of spirit, mind and body), The Shepherd ( guidance, leadership, provision, protection), The Light of the world ( way out of darkness, hopelessness, bondage to sin), The Vine ( to live fruitful and victorious lives manifesting the nine fruit of the spirit), The Resurrection and the Life ( life beyond death, eternal life). The seven “ I Am” statements are completion of the way God defined Himself as “ I am who I am”. It implies that Jesus is one or more of these metaphors in our lives at any point of time. The seven metaphors are needed for the completion, the metamorphosis, the fulfilment , the perfection of our otherwise imperfect and flawed lives. With these seven manifestations of Jesus in our lives, we find our sufficiency and proficiency in the Lord. Seven itself is a symbol of completion in the Bible like seven days, the complete of time, seven continents- complete space. The seven metaphors work in space and time of our lives as well as beyond space and time, beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Jesus came not to confirm the scarcity of meaning and purpose and power and resources but to remove it. To replace it with the framework of abundance. He came to replace hamartia or shortcoming of human life with hyperbole or abundance. The first and foremost abundance He seeks to provide in our lives is spiritual abundance- the abundance of the character of God manifested in human nature in the form of the nine fruit of the spirit. But the seven metaphors also extend to the physical dimension of health, longevity, productivity, resources, the emotional dimension of joy, of peace, of hope, the social dimension of love, helpfulness, the creative dimension and so on. God is real in every realm. He cannot be restricted to manifest only in a particular place or time or manner. Our faith in His word, His promises, the seven metaphors opens portals or gateways for God to manifest Himself as the I Am…