One of my favourite cartoon strips is Calvin and Hobbes, the story of a little boy called Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Calvin has a very healthy self-image (sometimes he is rather too egocentric, but that is all part of childhood!)

Hobbes in this particular image does not quite share Calvin’s appreciation of being made in the image of God, commenting that God must have a ‘goofy sense of humour’ if that is the case! So often, we feel more like Hobbes than Calvin. When people talk about being made in the image of God, we look at our mortal bodies, with their flab, frailty, imperfections and (to us) ugliness, and think, ‘Really? God can’t be much good, then!’

But as Dave reminded us recently, God proclaimed that the creation of mankind was very good (Gen 1:31), and even though sin has marred that perfection, we are still loved and valued by God, made a little lower than God, to be sure, but precious and valuable to Him. It’s not good to be narcissistic about ourselves, arrogantly presuming ourselves to be higher than God Himself (the desire to be like God led to sin and all the problems in the world, after all), but neither is it good to hate ourselves, for God loves us all dearly. We need to see ourselves as God sees us and humbly walk in simple trust with Him.

Dave spoke recently from Gen 1:26-27 about being made in the image of God. Many scientists and educators deny the Biblical account of creation.They claim that man has evolved over millions of years, that modern man is the result of mutation, that modern man is the result of some random, genetic transformation, that man is the product of the survival of the fittest, but the Genesis account makes it clear that God created the heavens and the earth, including all that is in the earth (see Gen 1 & 2, Is 45:12, Job 33:4, Deut 4:32), a fact which gives immense significance to humanity. As Martin Lloyd Jones states in his book ‘God the Father’, “the theory of evolution is an utter insult to man from the standpoint of the Biblical account — man is great and glorious and wonderful in the mind and conception of God.”

Being made in the image of God does not mean that God has a body like we do, but that we possess characteristics that are also found in God. There is a huge difference between a photograph of a person and the whole essence of that person, but there are several aspects of being made in God’s likeness which must be explored:

1. There is a spiritual dimension. We were created as people with a soul and spirit. It is the part of us that nobody sees. In that sense we are like God who is Spirit.
2. There is an intellectual dimension. Only human beings can reason and think, analyse and meditate. We are able to weigh options. We wrestle with our conscience and make reasoned choices. These traits reflect God’s unmatched wisdom.
3. There is a moral dimension that was originally given to us by God which reflects His integrity, righteousness and upright character.

Being made in God’s image meant God gave mankind the ability to evaluate, reason and think, and ultimately this free will led to sin and to rebellion against God. God’s image in us may seem tarnished nowadays, but because we are made in God’s image, there is a God-shaped hole in all of us which can only be filled by the relationship with God for which we were created. The gospel message reminds us all that God is waiting for us to return to Him, to dependence and trust, and that God is waiting patiently for our return. We were made to belong to God and only in Him can we find our true purpose and full contentment.

I’m no gardener. It’s safe to say every plant given to me as a present has ended up dead at my hands: never deliberately, but I just never seem to get the hang of when to water and how much to water. I’ve killed plants by over-watering them; I’ve killed plants by forgetting to water them. Even so-called ‘indestructible’ plants have perished at my hands. I’m not proud of this fact, but I cannot deny that when I read about God as gardener and the many references to trees, fruit and plants in the Bible, I feel I have little practical experience of the concepts involved in fruitful growth.

A watering can is a portable container, usually with a handle and a spout, used to water plants by hand. The advantage of the spout is that the water flow is regulated and therefore the amount of water used can be determined by the gardener, according to the needs of the individual plants.

A fire extinguisher, on the other hand, wouldn’t be much use as a tool for watering plants. Its function is in its name: it’s used to extinguish fires. Water fire extinguishers release plenty of water, but they would probably drench any plant! – and as I’ve discovered, too much water can be as bad as too little!

People can be rather like fire extinguishers, sadly, putting out the fire of the Spirit and dampening people’s enthusiasm and zeal and ultimately crushing others through their discouragement. We need to see other people as delicate plants and listen for the Gardener’s advice on how to encourage fruitful growth. The gentle watering can, bringing encouragement and upbuilding (see Job 15:11, Prov 25:11), bring forth growth. Our words, when used to build up and lift up the discouraged and weary, can be like ‘custom-made jewellery’, something refreshing to the thirsty (Prov 11:25).

Some people really want to go on the birthday box!

Leonard Ravenhill gives us sobering words to ponder about prayer:

‘No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organisers, but few agonisers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.’

May we learn to pray, to intercede, to cling, to fight, to wrestle in prayer. Pray in secret (Matt 6:6), but learn also to pray with God’s people.

We have the opportunity to join with other Christians at the ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at our church on Tuesday 18th July at 7:15 p.m. and also to pray together on alternate Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Don’t be fooled: the devil would rather we do anything than pray. Let’s make prayer our habit and learn to pray continually: ‘Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.’ (1 Tim 2, The Message)

Jesus gave us a framework for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-15, Luke 11:1-4), whichhighlights common factors in prayer:

Prayer is addressed to God, not to people. It is a lifting up of our soul to God (Ps 25:1), a pouring out of our hearts to God. (Ps 62:8) We come near to God and He comes near to us. (James 4:8) Jesus taught us that we have a heavenly Father and our prayers depend on this loving relationship (see Luke 11:11-13)

Prayer involves hallowing God’s name, recognising God as holy, longing to have God at the centre of our lives and our universe. As we pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we recognise that there is more to life than what our eyes are seeing; there is a visible and invisible kingdom. We see that God wants to be involved in every part of our lives on earth, but we recognise also that there is more to life than what we can see and hear and taste and smell and touch with our five senses. Prayer opens our eyes to spiritual realms.

Prayer involves God in our daily living. We ask for God to ‘give us this day, today, our daily bread’ (Matt 6:11), recognising that God is ‘Jehovah Jireh’, the Lord our provider. We want God to be involved in every aspect of our everyday living.

Prayer understands the importance of relationships, which is why we pray for God to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. (Matt 6:12) Relationships matter, and forgiveness is the oil which keeps relationships functioning well. There is a direct correlation between receiving God’s forgiveness and passing forgiveness onto others. (Matt 6:14-15) Prayer keeps us anchored to the importance and centrality of relationships.

Prayer understands the spiritual battle of life. We are taught to pray: ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matt 6:13) Paul says, ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ (Eph 6:12) Prayer is one of the spiritual weapons which have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 10:5).

Without prayer, we have limited vision and limited understanding; with prayer, we begin to see, however imperfectly, life as God sees it: how the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God forever.