Jesus is a man. Yes, He is fully God, but He is also fully man. So, as I think about Jesus being fully man and pointing us to the Father and openly revealing the love of the Father to us I see that Jesus as a man is speaking these things. Jesus the man - though in His Godhood He knows the Father and has known the Father from the beginning of time - has grace poured upon His lips. This grace is can be seen in all that He has said and all that He didn't say. Even in the smallest, seemingly unimportant things, Jesus points us to the Father's love.
The Pharisees were always trying to trap Jesus in His words. They were so great at trying at to flatter Jesus and say all the right things in the wisest ways in order to trap Jesus into saying something that could get Him in trouble or go against scripture or the law of the land. Matthew 22:15-22 is a small story with great significance. The Pharisees are again trying to trap Jesus by asking Him if it's right to pay taxes to Caesar.
Jesus responds sharply, knowing they were trying to trap Him. He said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying?" So the Pharisees brought him a coin and Jesus proceeded to ask them whose portrait and inscription were on the coin, which was Caesars. He finished by saying, "Then give unto Caesar that which is Caesars..." but He didn't stop there, "..and to God what is God's." Money around the world has the faces of the Presidents or leaders of that country who the money belongs to. Their portrait and inscription is on that money. So it belongs to them anyway. Therefore, yeah, pay your taxes.
But, Jesus finishing with the response give unto God what is God's seems almost like one of those Christian things you just throw in there that is true, but, I've never connected it the way Jesus connected it.
But, Jesus finishing with the response give unto God what is God's seems almost like one of those Christian things you just throw in there that is true, but, I've never connected it the way Jesus connected it.
In light of the Student Awakening going on at IHOP-KC, I'm beginning to see how God views His children. The Father has been so good and calling His children to Him and showing us that we are His and that He made us. A lot of people have been getting free from self-hatred due to body image issues, or to things that they have done or things that had been done to them in the past. But as God was revealing through leaders, our bodies were made perfect by God and instead of looking into the mirror and agreeing with the lies from the enemy and hating ourselves we need to agree with the Father and looking at ourselves should cause us to worship Him. In Genesis God says to God, "Come, let us make man in our own image."
We were made in the image of God! "Whose portrait is this? (Caesars.) Then, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." What Jesus is saying here is, because the coin bears the image of Caesar give it to Caesar. He connects then the command to give to God what is God's. In connecting the two Jesus was saying the coin has Caesar's portrait on it, so what has the portrait of God on it?
PEOPLE!! WE HAVE THE PORTRAIT AND THE INSCRIPTION OF GOD ALL OVER US!!
What grace that has been poured upon His lips!? Jesus was revealing again the Father's love. We were created to bear the image of God. We BELONG to HIM! God was saying a few things in that small phrase. "Save souls. Love your neighbor. Commit yourself to the Lord. You belong to the Father. The Father made you to bear His image." We should look at ourselves and the see the glory of the Father all over us! HIS IMAGE IS ON US!!! WHOO! Oh, my goodness I'm so excited! COME ON PEOPLE! The Lord has set His image on you! He has set His image and inscription on each individual person. His signature is on you! How beautiful the Lord is! That each individual person with their unique features reflects the beauty of the Lord. This so tears down the lie of the enemy that there is this ridiculous standard of beauty that no one really meets (and that those who have met it are dying (literally) to maintain it.) Why is the enemy attacking our image? Because He is trying to distort the image of God! If he can get us to view ourselves with hatred, he can then quickly turn that toward hating God and not seeing the beauty of the Father.
Satan sees that humans are the most beautiful, perfect and beloved creation of God. This is why he attacks the human image. The lie is that there is this standard of perfection and no one really thinks they've met it. Think about it. The supermodels who are on drugs, or who are getting plastic surgery because they're always trying to be more beautiful or maintain whatever standard of beauty they liked the best, if they thought they were perfect they'd be alright. Ha! Fat chance. The only way we're gonna realize the perfection and appreciate the beauty of our bodies is to stop and realize that we reflect the image of God. And God is perfect. And it goes further than our bodies physically. It goes to our personalities, our intellect, our giftings and skills and talents, etc. Those things also reflect the beauty of the Lord who created all things, and is in all things.
Romans 12:1 - Offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God. This is the same as give to God what is God's. Our bodies are the Lord's. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We belong to Him. That is good news! He is a good Father.He is perfect and He loves us. We are His children and He is taking care of us! To offer our bodies to Him in humility and say, "Lord, you made me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made," and begin to worship the Lord because He has made us. We need to realize that in us being fearfully and wonderfully made means that God is wonderful and seeing just how good and perfect He is should cause us to fear Him. In us are the awesome qualities of the Lord. We should then begin to look at each other and realize how amazing God is! To see the beauty of God in all people. To judge others based on appearance is to judge the image of God. And who are we to really pass judgment on the image of the Most High? Scary thought... I feel like there's so much more that could be said on that tiny line from Matthew 22:21.
Just remember: We all bear the image of God. He made us. We belong to Him. He desires us! We all have the amazing and perfect qualities of the Father inside us and on us. We're worth much more than coins.
"Father, open our eyes to see the beauty of You on our lives. Would you reveal Your love to us through our bodies. Through the way we view ourselves. Lord, come and reveal our true beauty. You call us beautiful! And we are only beautiful because of the infinite and perfect beauty of You! Break down and silence the lies of the enemy. Father, show us how much You desire us as the good and loving Father. Show us how we are made perfect in Your sight; in the image of You and Your Son. Open our eyes to see Your love. Dispel the darkness, and let the light of Your love shine in our hearts and in our beings. Set people free with Your perfect love!"
