Wednesday, May 7, 2008

In His Image and How Can He Care?

At church long ago, I watched a short video presentation about the universe. They started closeup on earth then drew farther and farther back. These were images or animations from the viewpoint of satellites and spacecraft and such. There was narration throughout pointing out how small we are in the scheme of things of the universe. One arresting image (to me) was this tiny dust mote caught in a beam of sunlight - it was earth caught in a photo shot from a satellite!

The point was to be amazed and thrilled that as insignificant as we seem to be from what may be thought of as God's perspective, He still loves us.
It had the opposite effect on me. Instead of being all goopy and grateful, it struck me as absurd that anyone from that perspective would spend any particular time or attention on something so insignificant. What, is God THAT bored?!

That image of a dust mote being earth made me imagine what I would think if I was vacuuming and a little dust MITE was able to get my attention and started crying out how much it loved me and wanted to "do my will." My will? What would my will be concerning a dust mite? Just go about your dust mite business, eat germs or bacteria or whatever you do. Assuming I was its god, its creator, I would know what it does. I don't know that they eat bacteria but if so, and that's why I made them, what else would I want them to do? What should I make of one who rose up to ask for the chance to do something mighty "for" me or "in my name"?

Of course, there is a difference. Our scripture tells us we are made in His image. It doesn't say we are the only things made in His image but that does seem to be the point of its being stated. I need to really meditate long and deeply on exactly what that means and what it implies. Do other religions understand this to be true? That we are made in the image of the Almighty, with a special destiny and opportunity not necessarily afforded other creatures?

2 comments:

  1. A profound thought, yes you are right, just a speck we are, but God loves us. Good posts.

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  2. Thank you! Sometimes I think of us as dust specks, sometimes as little children having their fits or asking for something that makes absolutely no sense at all but they can't possibly understand what's wrong with their request.
    It's fun thinking this way sometimes.

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