I am a Jesus pusher!!! “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’” (Matthew 5:21). Jesus proceeds to highlight the division between your brother (created in the image of God) and you (created in the image of God). He offers the picture of the amazing daily sacrifice on the altar (Matthew 5:23). This daily sacrifice illustrates all truth about the relationship between God and man. This relationship is the image of God fulfilled in every person offering sacrifice. God has a specific plan for my life! My fingerprints differ from all others who have ever been or will ever be. My DNA is distinctive to me! My personality is unique in all its expressions of ideas and thoughts. Therefore, the image of God is not a focus on all humanity but on every person.
If God fills my helplessness with His Person, I do not become like you! God’s image expresses itself through me, uniquely and specifically planned and determined by God! The division between us murders the plan of God’s image in each of us. How may I be in oneness with God’s image in my life if I will not embrace the image of God in your life? How I feel about you affects how I feel about God! His plan for you and me comes together to express God’s large plan for everyone, the redemptive plan. Murder, anger, treating you as worthless, and viewing you as stupid destroys the plan of God. Reconciliation restores the plan! A person cannot propose to embrace the plan of God for their life while destroying the plan of God for another. No wonder Jesus said that we must “leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24). I am a Jesus pusher!!!