God in You

 I wonder, I wonder if you really knew, that I see God in you

And I wonder if you can see, how much you mean to me

I know you cannot read my mind, but I hope you feel my vibe 

I think it's time I let you know that, I see the God in you

When I wrote the title of this post, the song "I See the God in You" by India Arie came to my mind. In the song, she is singing to a man. She sees his perfection [emphasis mine]. She sings that she sees the God in him. This song is still relevant because when someone tells you that they see God in you, they mean that they can see attributes of God in you. You literally mirror God. Wow. You are God. Amazing!

A few people may find my last statement blasphemous. I do not mean to be step on people’s toes, I just want to marvel in the creation that is a human being. In Genesis, it is described how human beings came into existence.

"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. " Genesis 2:7 NIV

God took His time to form us.  He chose the components of His creation to make us. For those of us who have loads of melanin, we can take pride in the fact that He chose the soil to form our bodies. He could have chosen anything else, but He chose the soil.

We are also reminded in whose image it is we are made:

 “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 NIV

 When you look at yourself in the mirror, When you look at your hands, when you run your fingers through your hair, you are reminded that you are God in human form. We have the breath of God. A part of God. In essence, we are God. Every fibre of our being should show how alike to God we are. Sometimes, the pressures of life make us forget this aspect, and in forgetting this, we become unlike God so much so that we want others to be disassociated from Him the same way we are. It may not be intentional, but that is exactly what happens.

I write this because I have been on the receiving end of Christians who think that because we are still struggling in our Christian walk, that the rest of us are heathen. That may be a bit harsh, but that is exactly how it feels. It seems they have forgotten Romans 12:3.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3 NIV

I am sure you have met such people. The ladies who walk with their noses in the air because you, the scum of the earth, do not know and live by the Ten Commandments. They do not care that the commands you remember most are “Love the Lord your God with all your hear, mind and strength” as well as “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Yes, the latter is a summary of the former but still. You get my drift. There are also those brothers of the Lord, who love debating the Bible with everyone that they meet. Their understanding of the Bible is the one that should be grasped. Did you not pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you with the gift of interpretation? The look of disdain in his face is enough to make you give up, so you keep quiet and let him speak. He is the one who knows. Besides, you say to yourself, he has been in ministry longer. You are just not worthy. Those are the ones who judge you and instead of being empathetic to your situation, you have unknowingly given them fodder for when they next meet Sister so and so or Brother so and so.

I had such an encounter a few weeks ago. I will not go into the details of it. I shall say, however, that it was at a time when I was so broken, and I really did not need any more negative vibes around me. We have a duty as Christians to make people enjoy being in our presence, and in so doing let people see God in you. Pastors are wondering why people do not come to church. They are trying to figure out how to reach out to more people. I am sorry, the swanky programmes you are dishing out every other quarter is not the way to go. Teach your congregants to live by Matthew 7:5. If they do not remove the log in their own eye, they shall not be able to see the speck in another’s eye.

If you ask that single mother why she no longer goes to church, more often that not, it is because she was scorned by the very people in that church. Ask that brother why he does not attend church, you will hear the story of a man left to walk alone when all he needed was a shoulder to lean on and someone who would  listen to the cry in his heart.

The aim of this post is not to evangelise, but if I win more souls for Christ, hallelujah! My objective is for people to search within themselves. Do I unknowingly turn people away from God instead of bringing them closer? Do I have the traits mentioned above or even worse? When a ‘hot story’ rocks the church, is it because I told a secret I should have kept? I am not perfect. Far from it, but I do not want to be the reason someone departs from God. I shall have failed in my mission if that ever happens.