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Day #7: Blessed to be God's Idols

March 07, 2017  /  Garret Shelsta

[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]

What you will need: 

Day #7.png

Theme: Origins

Passage for March 7th 2017: Genesis 1:26-31

Bars from “Blessing”:


I'm gon' praise Him, praise Him 'til I'm gone
I'm gon' praise Him, praise Him 'til I'm gone
When the praises go up, the blessings come down
When the praises go up, the blessings come down
It seems like blessings keep falling in my lap
It seems like blessings keep falling in my lap

A Thought:

I grew up in a musical family. I learned to play guitar and was playing in church by 15. And unlike my art skills, I spent a significant amount of time practicing and even spent some time studying music in College. Worship has been incredibly formative for how I understand the Lord. However, my conception of worship is no longer isolated to music. Due in large part to this passage, I now see worship as more expansive than simply singing songs. 

God made men and women in his image. The Hebrew word translated here as “image” is most often translated as “idol.” God has made men and women as God’s “idol’s” in the world. According to Tim Mackie over at the Bible Project, this is part of the reason the Hebrews were forbidden to make images of their God. Humanity was not to make images of God because God has already made images of God’s self… Us. 

As God’s idols, our calling goes beyond simply representing the will and desire of what God wants to accomplish in the world. It includes partnering with God to accomplish it. This is the point of Genesis 1:29-27. Adam and Eve are created to partner with God to transform the raw materials given to them in to something beyond “very good.” Humans receive vision from God, work with Him to implement it and God sees this and is pleased. In the Garden, our whole existence was to worship God with our lives. 

Chance recaptures this vision for humanity in the refrain of one of my favorite songs on “Coloring Book.” Our lives are a praise song going up to God, and as that occurs, we gracefully receive vision and direction from the one who chiseled us out of stone. We are blessed. 

This is the question I am contemplating today: If my life is a praise song to God, what is it saying? What in my life are the blessings the Lord has provided?

Mediation: Psalm 147:7-11

Read the whole passage through once and pick a phrase that is sticking out to you. Read that phrase 2-3 times and choose a single word. As you color today, have a conversation with the Lord about what He is speaking to you through that one word.

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