Distorted Image

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

Jeremiah 17:9

You've heard it said that "a picture paints a thousand words?"  In my case, the picture was pounds which led me to our local Health and Wellness Center to renew my gym membership.  I recently viewed a photo that was taken of me not so long ago, and I had to ask myself, "Do I really look like this?"  It certainly isn't something I see in the mirror as I dress myself every day, but pictures don't lie.  So, again, I had to ask myself, "How did this happen and I not notice?"

The answer:  Distorted Image.

Then I asked myself, "If I can be blind to my physical appearance, can this happen to my Spiritual image?"  Yes, it can.

I immediately thought of two examples in the bible, and I am sure there are more, but for now we will just look at these two men.

The first man you see in Luke 18:9-14.  There were two men who went to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a publican.  This is how the Pharisee saw himself:  "I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."  This man had a distorted image of not only himself, but he had a distorted image of who he was before a Holy God.

The second man you see, is Samson, in Judges 16:20b "And he (Samson) awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.  And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him."

Samson had a distorted image of not only his own condition, but he had a distorted image of where his strength came from.

When I look at myself every day in the mirror, I become familiar with my physical condition.  I didn't think I looked too bad.  It took a photo to show my appearance from a different perspective.

When we go through the mechanics of our daily devotions and prayer as if we are just checking off a box on our to-do-list, we become familiar with our Spirituality.  We become deceived to the true condition of our hearts and our relationship with the Lord.

But when we really take the time to open God's Word and allow His perspective to examine our thoughts and intents of our hearts, we can change our distorted image into His image.

Romans 8:29 says, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, (Caps. mine) that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

That's what it is all about.  Living in such a manner, every day, to be more and more like the image of our Lord.

Familiarity caused images to be distorted. Have I distorted the image of my Saviour?  God help me to see Truth in your word so that others won't have a distorted image of You.

If we distort the image of our Lord incorrectly...

    The world will never know our Saviour...

        But that's just me!

Would I know you Now?

Wayne Watson

Would I know You now if You walked into the room,

If You stilled the crowd, if Your light dispelled the gloom,

If I saw Your wounds, touched Your thorn pierced brow,

I wonder if I'd know You now.

Would I know You now, if You walked into this place,

Would I cause You shame, would my games be Your disgrace?

Or would I worship You, fall down upon my face?

I wonder if I'd know You now?

Or, have the images I've painted,

So distorted Who You are,

that even if the world was looking, 

They could not see You, the real You,

Have I changed the true reflection,

To fulfill my own design, 

making You what I want,

Not showing You forth divine.

Would I miss You now, if You left and closed the door,

Would my flesh cry out, "I don't need You anymore!"

Or, would I follow You, seek to be restored?

I wonder, I wonder will I ever learn?

I wonder, would I know You now?