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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
The Desire for the Image of Christ
The last line of a popular old hymn reads, "Stamp thine own image deep on my heart." The request in the song is for the image of Christ to be indelibly impressed on the heart of the worshiper. Of course the image of Christ referred to in the song is not a physical image, but rather a spiritual one. The image of Christ is an image which cannot be found in a painting, or sculpture; rather is it found in a book. The book which contains the image of Christ is the Holy Bible. The request to stamp the image of Christ on one's heart is a request that one be transformed into the spiritual likeness of Jesus.
Prior to the time of Christ, God in His wisdom saw fit to reveal certain truths to prophets who committed these facts to writing. These writing were identified as sacred writings in as much as they were of a different class than ordinary compositions of uninspired men. These were the scriptures of which Paul spoke when he said, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…" (2 Timothy 3.16). This process of inspiration and revelation was resumed shortly after the coming of Christ. These writings by the New Testament authors were also known as scripture. Peter recognized Paul's writings along side other scriptures when he said, "Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures." (2 Peter 3.15-16). Notice that Peter stated that some people twisted Paul's writings in the same way they twisted the "rest of the Scriptures."
Therefore, since God saw fit to record the life of Christ, His earthly ministry, and His will as expressed to the church and certain individuals of the first century, we who desire to be impressed by His image would do well to read and digest these scriptures. After all, that was at least a part of the reason that the scriptures were written. In these scriptures, we can see the person of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God. In these scriptures we learn of His character and see it manifested in His actions. In the scriptures we read of His teachings and come face to face with many of the concepts that under-girded His teachings. When we read the New Testament and the events contained in it, we come to know the Christ. All other sources of knowledge are inferior to the one revealed source given through the hand of God.
It is a commendable thing - one of unexcelled importance - to seek to have the image of Jesus stamped on our hearts. However, it is an absolute fact that in order for this image to be reflected in our lives, we have to seek Jesus where He can be found. It does no good to go to sources of human origin in as much as they, at best, are an admixture of truth and error. Truth sets free and error enslaves. In order to drink of the pure water of life, we must go to the fountainhead and Jesus is that source of truth. If we would know the Christ of the heavens, we must know the Christ of the scriptures; they are one and the same!
Sing the song O To Be Like Thee but sing it with the resolve it takes to know Him and to know His will. Sing the song with the scriptures as the source of His marvelous image!
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