{"id":108,"date":"2012-05-23T08:38:28","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T08:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meditations.kafkasworld.com\/dir\/?p=108"},"modified":"2012-05-23T08:38:28","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T08:38:28","slug":"nature-and-the-image-of-god-in-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/23\/nature-and-the-image-of-god-in-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature and the Image of God in Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Nature and the Image of God in Man
\nCopyright 2011 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n

What an immense gift it is to be able to see God\u2019s world with the faculties of a being made in His image. As human beings we have, of course, been given the gift of the senses but this has also been given to the animals. What we have in addition is self-awareness and a mind, soul and spirit that are able to enjoyably partake of the beauty of creation and comprehend it on multiple levels.<\/p>\n

This truth was brought home to me recently as I lay in a hammock on the back patio of my home here amidst the woods of Northern New Jersey pondering the sublimity of nature and it\u2019s God. I watched hummingbirds at our feeder and dragonflies darting over head. I drank in the gorgeous combination of clouds and blue sky contrasting with the branches of trees that towered above me. As I gazed up I had a small epiphany. I could see God in the fecundity of His creation. I could apprehend the beauty before me and be moved by it because He gave me the ability to do so, and not just because He gave me eyes.<\/p>\n

We have no evidence that the beasts recognize such beauty. Even the angels may not see the material world as we material human beings do. It is a distinct possibility that, apart from God, only humankind has been gifted with a heart that can appreciate nature. This is part of the fruit of common grace, of being made in the image of God. Beyond this the Christian, in the greater state of saving grace, can sense the presence of Christ in nature while simultaneously knowing that He is beyond nature.<\/p>\n

Some might ask what this means on a purely practical level for the believer. How does having a consciousness that allows us to appreciate both the creation and the Divine in creation make us, for instance, better disciples? I cannot give a definitive answer but I will say this: part of knowing and loving God is somehow bound up in knowing and loving the inestimable grandeur of the natural world (even though it remains for now, like us, fallen.) To be fully alive in Christ includes receiving the aspect of His abundance that comes simply from experiencing the works of His hands. When we joyfully use the unique faculties to appreciate the natural world that God has given us, faculties that may have only been granted to our species, I believe we can come, to know, love and obey him better through that appreciation.<\/p>\n

We are told in the Scriptures to \u201cthink on\u201d a number of good things, assumedly because doing so will make us better people. One of these things is \u201cwhatever is lovely\u201d. Nature is one of the loveliest things we can know in this life and we have been given the ability to uniquely experience it by way of our unique status as the only creatures made in God\u2019s image. To realize this is true is an occasion of rejoicing for the sons and daughters of men. It certainly was for me that day as I lay in my hammock, gazed at the rich pageant of things; animate and inanimate, arrayed before me \u2026.and drank of it deeply.<\/p>\n

In doing so I felt closer to my Lord.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nature and the Image of God in Man Copyright 2011 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved What an immense gift it is to be able to see God\u2019s world with the faculties of a being made in His image. As human beings we have, of course, been given the gift of the senses but this… <\/p>\n

Read more Nature and the Image of God in Man<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-christian","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6GkOA-1K","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":175,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/24\/sharing-nature-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":108,"position":0},"title":"Sharing in the Nature of God","date":"June 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Sharing in the Nature of God Copyright 2011 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved I believe God, in Christ, wants to somehow share His very nature with us, to in some sense enable us to enter into the experience of His absolute blessedness to the extent we can as creatures.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/20\/thanksgiving-and-enjoyment-which-comes-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":108,"position":1},"title":"Thanksgiving and Enjoyment: Which Comes First?","date":"April 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanksgiving and Enjoyment: Which Comes First? 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This is not to say\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1095,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/09\/working-out-of-who-we-are\/","url_meta":{"origin":108,"position":4},"title":"Working Out of Who We Are","date":"August 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved In seeking to truly live a good life we can only \u201cdo the right thing\u201d because God is progressively transforming us into the image of His Son in the process of sanctification. 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