“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”…So God CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE; (tselem: like a shadow) in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27) The Hebrew word for shadow (tsel) comes out of the word tselem, and we certainly don’t look like shadows, but our shadow behaves exactly like we do. If we jump, so does our shadow; if we wave, our shadow must wave as well. It is an exact replica, a mirrored image of who and what we are. We don’t look like GOD, but WE ARE CREATED TO BEHAVE LIKE GOD.
So, what happens when we DO NOT BEHAVE LIKE GOD? I’ll use myself as an example; I started early being addicted to alcohol, “Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink CANNOT BE WISE.” (Pro. 20:1), then at about 26 years old I started using drugs because as a design engineer, alcohol interfered with my ability to be creative (what did I know???). Somehow I was very successful as an engineer I designed and patented a couple systems but the partying and all that goes along with that life style, and then getting high regularly, was just too unsettling.
One evening at work, I walked to my private restroom, closed the door and someone put their arms around me and said “Bill, I love you!” I had never experienced such conviction, I just fell to my knees, with the commode as an altar, and cried out “I AM SO SORRY!!!” (I did not know how to pray or what to say) and I felt this very heaven burden LIFTED OFF OF ME. I did something very unusual for me, I started crying and thanking God! I went out to the work area where Tim Nelson, my technician, was working on my project. I tried to explain what happened but I don’t think he believed me. He (unintentionally) was a little rude about pointing out errors in my design and how he fixed them, which by the way was always right.
I told Tim I had a couple joints and could we read the bible and smoke a joint to get better understanding! He just said “no thank you” so I did not smoke one either, two nights later the Lord sanctified me and INSTANTLY delivered me from all my addictions. I went home that night and gladly dumped all my booze and 10 bags of Acapulco Gold Marijuana, down the toilet. Now 49 years later after pastoring for 17 years in Washington state, moving to Cleveland TN, installed a computer system and wrote software for the International Offices. Then I spent 15 years teaching at Cleveland High School where I served as the chaplain for the football team seeing many students give their hearts to the Lord. Today I write several Christian blogs and send them all over…
This is me today, I, “Shout joyfully to the LORD…Serve the LORD WITH GLADNESS; Come before Him with joyful singing.” (Psa. 100:1-2)
-Bill Stockham