Like Father, Like Son

via TJC

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. -Genesis 1:26-27

I have struggled with anger for most of my life. As a young boy I saw the way my father reacted to frustrating situations, and I learned to bottle my emotions. I hoped that, given enough time and concealment, my anger would subside and it wouldn’t hurt people I cared about. I could not have been more wrong.

One of the ways I’ve been growing in my faith recently is by understanding that anger is not sinful. God is angry often, in both the Old and New Testaments. Anger is the response to something that has gone wrong…something that is unjust. What CAN go wrong is how I often lose self control when angry, and without that I am prone to all kinds of wrong actions and sin. The question I’ve been asking myself recently when I get angry: “Is this something that God would be angry about?” My growth has been from the desire for my anger to resemble the image of my heavenly Father more, and for it to resemble the image of my earthly father less.

Daily Battle Order:

You were made in the image of God. Recognizing the image of God in yourself and intentionally magnifying that image is a well-traveled path to growing in your faith. Today identify the area you struggle most in being like God, and allow God’s image and purpose to invade and overtake your understanding of that thing. For me recently it has been anger. What is it for you?