We all have an IMAGE problem. I mean, we're usually not happy with the way others see us or we get so fixated on it that we begin to create a way in which we want to be seen. The problem is that, if we were to be honest, it's a waste of breath... at least ours. The prophet Jeremiah delivers God's word to people who spent a lot of time creating IMAGES of themselves or other gods (for us this can be "celebrity worship" or "materialism"). They worshipped these images and God says, "Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them." (Jer. 51:17)
Breath... it's a pretty important part of living isn't it? When God created man in HIS image there was something about breath that was necessary for mankind to truly live! So in Genesis 2:7 we find that God "breathed the breath of life" so man could fully live! Halloween is the most honest of all seasonal events because it's the one day that most people acknowledge openly and honestly that we are trying to be someone/something we are not! It may be ugly and repulsive or an exaggerated version or type of image... but it's certainly not the one we were created in... or how we were meant to live.
When Jesus is allowed into the life of a person God literally breathes a new spiritual life into their being. He needs to wreck the image that each of us has created... wasted our own breath on... and Re-IMAGE us more and more like Jesus! If you want to truly live then I encourage you to stop self-creating and allow God to begin the work re-IMAGING you more and more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18)!
[Ladies Winner: Spencer & Erin Kondak / Dude Winner: Brandon "Chic Magnet" Grimm]
