Image is a big deal. Nearly everything in our culture is connected to it in some way, and I find this especially true in teens and preteens today (though it’s always there as something that we have to deal with in some form, regardless of our age or gender). Being involved with kids, perhaps it’s natural for me to see it with that group of individuals, but it is very real and very much in their faces in this stage of their lives. Much of the time these guys and girls are given ideas of what their own image should be, and all too often they’re left to decide how to conform and what it is that they should conform to.

Mark spoke briefly on Sunday about Samuel’s human disposition to look upon Jesse’s son Eliab as the Lord’s anointed to succeed Saul as king of Israel. This guy looked the part, so naturally he was the one, right? But God said, “No Samuel. Don’t look at him and think that he is deserving of the throne of man just because he looks like he’s all that.” (I think we all typically think of the language of the KJV or ESV or whatever your translation of choice may be and go, ‘now God did not talk that way.’ You get my point.

“When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:6-7

As we get further into this series, don’t think that the heart of the message is that things like image do not hold any significance; they do. The thing to bear in mind is not whether or not something is meaningful, but rather Who it is that defined its true meaning.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

David Henderson
Student Pastor