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Day 1505 – Be Polished – Wisdom Unplugged

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Welcome to Day 1505 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Be Polished – Wisdom Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1505 of our Trek, and it is time for our 3-minute mini trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from  Rumi, and it is:   If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?   

Be Polished

Hardship, issues, and friction are a part of life. You can’t breathe, move, or function without some conflict. I am sure many of you can relate to one of my childhood experiences. When I was young, my siblings and I were given a rock tumbler. It was so exciting to put in a rough rock, and within a few days, you have a beautiful smooth, shiny gem. It was like magic! The truth of the matter is that in order to obtain the jewels, the rough stones had to go through 4 stages of friction. The rocks also had to be entirely submerged in water. With each of the four steps, the sand and grit that slowly chips off the rough edges started with a course mix and became more refined. So it is with life. If we desire to become precious gemstones, we have to go through the process of life slowly chipping off our rough parts until we become smoother and more mature. With each stage of conflict, we will be shaped and molded more and more until we become who God destined us to be. While it may not be enjoyable going through the rock tumbler of life, if we do not, then we will never be a polished mirror reflect God as His imager.  James, the half brother of Christ, summed it up well in his letter to the early Christ-followers.

James 1:2-4

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 11,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. Just as you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1505 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Worldview Wednesday!

Day 1504 – Bible Study – Book Order and Hebrew Text – Meditation Monday

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Welcome to Day 1504 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Bible Study – Book Order and Hebrew Text – Meditation Monday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1504 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind. 

We are continuing our series this week on Meditation Monday as we focus on Mastering Bible Study through a series of brief insights from Hebrew Scholar, Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Our current insights are focusing on what the Bible is. Today let us meditate on:

Bible Study – Book Order and Hebrew Text

·      Insight Thirty-One: The Books in Your Bible Are Not in Chronological Order

Have you ever wondered how historians know when things in the ancient world happened? How can we say with great confidence that some event occurred 1,000 years before Christ (BC)? How- do we know with precision when the events of the life of Jesus and the early Church transpired?

Ancient chronology is a fascinating subject. It’s also amazingly complex since it deals with ancient lists of the reigns of kings that have survived from antiquity and with ancient astronomical observations and their recording. You don’t need to devote yourself to understanding how all these things are known to study the Bible. But it’s pretty important you know the when.

The books in your Bible were not chronologically arranged. Ezekiel was not written after Jeremiah. Paul’s epistles were not written in the order they’re listed in the New Testament. Even books like 1-2 Samuel can be chronologically misleading. Samuel was the last of Israel’s judges, right before the first king, Saul, came along.Consequently, 1-2 Samuel’s content overlaps Samuel’s life and a time that followed the Torah, Joshua, and Judges’ events. But the content of a book doesn’t tell us when a book was written. The fact that 1-2 Samuel never claims to have been written by Samuel adds to the chronological uncertainty.

Scholars have done their best to determine when the books of the Bible were written, but there’s a lot of disagreement. Yet the effort is worth it because knowing when a book was written is essential for developing theological ideas.

For example, what Paul says about faith and works in Galatians (perhaps his earliest epistle) sounds a bit different than it does in Romans. Paul’s comments are specific to events in Galatians, whereas Romans reflects a fuller treatment of the issue, one that benefits from years of preaching and addressing the issue in churches.

Another reason to know when a book was written is that it provides a glimpse of the writer’s world. Knowing that the Egyptians wrote about the invasion of the Sea Peoples (from whom the Philistines derive) along the Canaan coast helps us put certain references to the Philistines in the Old Testament in context.

Fortunately, this sort of information is available in reference works and good commentaries. Taking time to get your chronological bearings helps interpretation.

·      Insight Thirty-Two: The Traditional Hebrew Text of The Old Testament Did Not Fall From Heaven

I’ve already talked a little about how God did not specially create Greek for the New Testament. That myth was popular before the late nineteenth century, and it remains influential to this day. A similar myth claims that the traditional Hebrew Old Testament (the Masoretic text) deserves special sacred status. It doesn’t, and being influenced by that idea can hinder your Bible study.

Several tools can help English readers with the original languages. Other tools guide English readers to what various manuscripts say that might diverge from something in their translation. Manuscript copies of the Hebrew Old Testament have slight variations, none of which affect central doctrines, and Bible translations will sometimes note these small wording changes. If you think the traditional Hebrew text is sacrosanct, these tools won’t help you.

The myth claims that the Hebrew text hasn’t changed since its original composition—that the ancient Jewish scribes, the Masoretes, didn’t change a letter. The Dead Sea scrolls are often rolled out to make this argument. But it’s a myth, and the scrolls themselves demonstrate that.

The problem with the myth is that the work of the Masoretes only began around AD 100, when the Jewish religious authorities standardized the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). There were various manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible in existence before that time. The most important one is the text from which the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was created. The Septuagint was very popular with early Christians and, naturally, with the writers of the New Testament. It was popular because it was a Greek translation. However, the Hebrew text from which the Septuagint was translated and the text known today as the Masoretic text differs in some ways.

The rabbis wanted a standardized text for their community. So in AD 100, they took the existing texts and used them to produce a single text that would be copied down from that point on. That’s the Masoretic text. The Dead Sea Scrolls preserve differences from other texts. Those other texts are where many of the marginal notes in your study Bible come from.

My point is this: don’t be afraid to seriously entertain an alternative textual reading in your Bible’s footnotes. You might be returning to the original reading.

Joshua 1:8

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

That is a wrap for today’s Meditation. Next week we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’  If you would like to listen to any of the past 1503 daily treks or read the daily Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and Journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow!

Day 1503 – Crafting A Futuristic Mindset – Ask Gramps

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Welcome to Day 1503 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. 

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Crafting A Futuristic Mindset – Ask Gramps

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1503 of our Trek, and our focus on Fridays is the future technological and societal advances, so we call it Futuristic Fridays. My personality is one that has always been very future-oriented. Since my childhood, I have yearned for the exploration and discovery of new technologies and advancements for the future. I grew up with the original Star Trek series, and even today, as I am now on my 65th revolution around the sun, I still dream of traveling in space. Each week we will explore rapidly converging technologies and advancements, which will radically change our lives. At times, the topics may sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but each area that we explore is already well on its way of becoming a reality over the next couple of decades.

To keep with our theme of “Ask Gramps,” I will put our weekly topics in the form of a question to get us on track. This week’s question is, Hey Gramps, how can I create and maintain a mindset that is future-oriented while staying focused on what is essential for today? 

Crafting a Futuristic Mindset

Last week we focused on turning Sick Care into Well Care. This week let us look at what it takes to be future-oriented while maintaining a focus on what is essential today. I am using some of the information mentioned in Peter Diamandis’s blogs and book “The Future is Faster Than You Think.”

While business and material success is not the most important determining factor of overall success, it is an indicator of a focused life. So let me ask you a question. What made Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk succeed? Was it their technology or their mindset?

Personally, I think mindset is an entrepreneur’s most critical asset. Yet few of us ever take the time to craft it — to purposefully select and sharpen the mindset(s) we desire.

Your mindset is the filter through which you see the world. It determines how you spend your time, what decisions you make, and where you invest your resources.

I’ve been asked whether I’ve always had an Abundance mindset and an Exponential mindset over the years. The answer is yes, and no. They are both mindsets that are part of my personality, but I’ve crafted and honed my mindset progressively over the past 40+ years.

So how do you craft and reinforce a mindset? Which mindsets are the most exciting for me? These are the questions we will explore today.

Let’s dive in…

HOW MINDSETS WORK…

Before choosing which mindset(s) to focus on, it helps to understand how mindsets work.

Here’s an analogy: if you’ve been following Artificial Intelligence developments, you know that we can train neural nets to do image recognition. The challenge with these neural nets is that they’re only as good as the data you feed them.

For example, if you show the neural nets thousands of pictures of cats and show them a picture of a dog, the algorithm will tell you that the dog is actually a cat. It doesn’t know any better.

The same is true for our brains, which are also a type of neural net. If you continuously feed your mind with negative perspectives, your outlook will be negative. You won’t know any better. So my question to you is, how are you training your neural net?

Most of us don’t realize that we’re doing this training. It operates in the background. For example, you train your mind constantly through social media echo chambers or our daily news intake of CNN (Crisis News Network), Fox, or any of the mainstream media outlets.

Taking an active approach to understanding and crafting mindsets is crucial for me, and I’ve made it the fundamental underpinning of my daily life. So, what shapes your mindset? What are the things that have you trapped thinking the way you do? What would you need to change?

CRAFTING YOUR MINDSET…

The two key inputs that shape our mindsets are: the people we spend time with and the media we consume.

Your life is significantly impacted by those who you go through life with. There’s an old saying in business that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

If you want to be physically fit, hang out with friends who exercise.

If you want to think big and aspire to change the world, hang out with people who have a vision and a massively transformative purpose (MTP).

As it used to be said of computers, Garbage in, garbage out. Just as you are the average of the five people you spend most, the same is valid for ideas.

The news and media we consume are data that we allow to flow into our brains. That is to say, our neural nets. What is your news diet? What kind of movies or documentaries are you watching? What books, blogs, or podcasts are you consuming? Does your daily media intake consist of time studying God’s Word?

Do these inputs reinforce the mindsets you want? Or do they reinforce mindsets you’re trying to avoid?

As an independent thinker and an entrepreneur, answering these questions is a critical part of your journey to succeed during this exponential change era.

The next step on that journey is choosing the mindset(s) that works best for you.

 SELECTING YOUR MINDSET…

There are MANY mindsets you can choose from. Below there are six specific future-oriented mindsets that I find most powerful and essential to hone during this era of exponential growth.

  1. Abundance Mindset: You have clarity, evidence, and conviction that technology is dematerializing, demonetizing, and democratizing products and services, creating increasing abundance on a global scale.
  2. Exponential Mindset: You understand that computation and derivative technologies (AI, VR, 3D Printing, etc.) are growing exponentially. Thirty doublings drive a billion-fold improvement that the human (linear) mind finds difficult to grasp.
  3. Longevity Mindset: You are focused on maximizing your health span, tracking the biotech breakthroughs able to add 20 to 30 healthy years onto your life, and making “100 years old the new 60.” You seek key insights and early access.
  4. Moonshot Mindset: You understand that most people are focused on incremental (10%) growth, but you seek 10x Moonshot growth. You desire tools and techniques that enable you to select and implement your Moonshots.
  5. Purpose/Passion-driven Mindset: You seek to find, refine, or update your massively transformative purpose (MTP), which allows you to live a passion-driven life. You seek tools and a community to amplify and support your MTP.
  6. Gratitude Mindset: You recognize how providential blessed you are personally and professionally, and you take the time to acknowledge your blessings to God and others. With this in mind, you have created routines in your day that allow you to reflect on this. As a result of your gratitude, you share your abundance with those in your life in a way that brings you joy and uplifts those around you.

What mindsets do you choose? Can you imagine the benefits of having an Exponential and Abundance Mindset? Would it help flip the way you see things? Instead of seeing a problem, can you see an opportunity? Remember that the world’s biggest challenges are also the world’s most significant opportunities.

As Christ-followers, we must live in a manner that reflects a rich and satisfying life. We must minimize the harmful intake and maximize that, which is good. We must control our minds so that they are both future-oriented while staying focused on the positive impact that we can have on others today. Here are a couple of verses that will help you with your mindset.

Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1 Peter 1:13

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Futuristic Friday as we look at another exciting exponential technology area on our ‘Ask Gramps’ episode. Our next trek is Meditation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’

If you would like to listen to any of the past 1502 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, but most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you on Monday!

Day 1502 – The Dirty Diner – Humor Unplugged

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Welcome to Day 1502 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Dirty Diner – Humor Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your Captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1502 of our Trek, and time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Humor Unplugged. Our Thursday podcast will provide a short and clean funny story to help you lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. Something to cheer you and give a bit a levity in your life. We are told in Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health. We are also encouraged in Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Consider this your vitamin supplement of cheer for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s funny which is titled:

The Dirty Diner

George and Bill were on a road trip out west, and the towns were few and far between. It was getting rather late in the day, and they both were feeling a bit tired, so they decided to stop at a diner for a cup of coffee. As they entered ‘The Last Chance Diner,’ they couldn’t help but notice that it was a greasy spoon of a place. They saw a booth towards the back of the diner and proceeded towards it. Before they slid into a booth, George had to brush the crumbs off the seat, and Bill took a napkin from the holder and swiped at a spill on the table. Sally, the waitress, came over, chewing loudly on gum, and asked if they wanted some menus.

“No, thanks,” said George. “I’ll just have a cup of black coffee.“

“I’ll have black coffee too,” replied Bill. “And please make sure the cup is clean.“

Sally shot Bill a nasty look. She turned and marched off into the kitchen.

About five minutes later, Sally was back with a tray with cups on it. “Two cups of black coffee,” Sally announced. “Which one of you wanted the clean cup?“I hope that brought a smile to your face today. If it did pass your smile onto some else, we all could use a kind smile each day. Our Thursday thought is, “When you go to a restaurant, the less you know about what happens in the kitchen, the more you enjoy your meal.”

Here is our verse for today:

Proverbs 15:17

A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.

Just as you enjoy these nuggets of humor, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1501 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com.  I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Futuristic Friday!

Day 1501 – A Family of Imagers – Worldview Wednesday

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Welcome to Day 1501 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Family of Imagers – Worldview Wednesday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1501 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. This week, on our Worldview Wednesday episode, we will continue our study based on a course I recently completed taught by Dr. Michael Heiser. Our study is titled “Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny” Throughout this multi-week course, we will demonstrate that, in the Old Testament, “sons of God” and “holy ones” refers to supernatural beings whose Father is God and who work with God to carry out His will and that this divine family was present before humanity. By fully engaging with biblical texts such as Psalm 82; Psalm 89, and Deuteronomy 32:8–9, our study will show that this divine family functions as a template for God’s human family. God desires of humans, as His imagers, to participate in His council. This study addresses issues such as polytheism, the nature of the (little ‘g’) “gods,” and Yahweh’s uniqueness. This study will apply insights to the New Testament texts and show how the metaphor of being in God’s family informs our sense of identity and mission as believers.

A Family of Imagers

·      Segment 28: Believers as Family, Participants – 1

Introduction

There are several statements about Jesus in the New Testament. There are also several references about us as His sibling, because of the incarnation. These references build on the family language of the Old Testament “sons of God,” the divine family idea, specifically as it relates to representing God, that is to say, imaging God.

Christ as “Image of God” Intentionally Links to Genesis

For instance, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, we read that “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Now, we know from the Old Testament that we are spoken of in the same language. If you were a person reading this or hearing this from Paul or the mouth of some other apostle, you would immediately think back to the concept (that scene in Genesis 1) where humanity is created in God’s image or, as we’ve suggested, as God’s imager.

Here, you have Christ called “the image of God.” He is, think about it, the ultimate human. He becomes man. He is incarnate as a human being, and He is here to do many things, but one of them is to show us what God is like—to be God in the Father’s stead, as it were. Of course, Jesus alludes to this several times in His own ministry, but this language, again, is intentional. As we fix our minds on the fact that Jesus is the ultimate imager, the ultimate example of this, the ultimate template, when the language shifts to believers, that’s going to make sense; it’s going to take our minds back to Genesis and help us to process these things because they have a long history that goes all the way back to the beginning.

Conforming to Christ

In Colossians 1:15, it says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,” Now, that has a visible element because as John says in John 1, “The Word [who was God] became flesh.” So we have a visible representation, but the idea of just general representation—being God, in this place and time—is also part of that package.

Romans 8:29, believers know, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Here, we have two aspects: we have the Son of God, the ultimate imager, and we are to be conformed to Him. What does that mean? It means we are to represent God the way Jesus represented God. The way He played the role of imager is how we are to play the role of imager. We were created to be His imager. We were made to represent God, which means to work with Him, carrying out His will in this place that He has put us: earth, the terrestrial realm.

Jesus is the example that’s going to be the template not just for a few individuals, but for many people—anyone who believes. He is the example. He was brought here to bring us into the family through redemption that makes us siblings with Him and be our example on how we are to carry out the original mandate of Eden to be God’s representation.

Sanctification Linked to Imaging

In 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, we read this, “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” This links our sanctification—that whole process of becoming more like Christ—to the imaging idea. Ultimately, we can see how these things dovetail. We are more like Christ—that is the fulfillment of God’s original plan, what He wanted for humanity back into Genesis 1.

Essentially Divine Beings

In 1 Corinthians 15:49, Paul says, “Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.” This refers to being divine beings because our spirit, the immaterial part of us, is not terrestrial. We are divine beings. We receive a body in this embodied world to represent God, but ultimately, we will get a new body, and that body will be like the one that Christ had after the resurrection. And Paul spends a lot of time in 1 Corinthians 15 talking about that.

So this is our destiny: to be essentially made like Him. Like 1 John 3:2 says, “We will be like him,” and that includes this glorified body, this glorified existence. That is part of our destiny. That was Eden’s original goal: to take the embodied human beings God has made and somehow graft them into a divine family, unite them into a blended family. It’s been a long time getting there, and of course, we are in this ‘already/not yet’ kind of situation now. Paul and these other writers are borrowing from, really dipping into, the language of the Old Testament. Colossians 3:9-10, “Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” This verse is just another reference to the idea of representing God, becoming progressively less unlike Him and more like Him through the process of sanctification.Ultimately, that is completed when we are made as divine as we can be; we are made like Jesus. It’s not the idea that we’re going to become little Yahwehs, but we will become as close to Him as we can be. We’re still derivative; we’re still contingent; we’re still lesser because of our original creation. As we become more like Christ—Christ, who is the God of Israel, Yahweh incarnate—we can bear a similarity just like a family relationship. Like natural offspring, we will bear that similarity to the ultimate extent at our glorification.[1]

That will finish our study for this week’s Worldview Wednesday. Next week we will cover part 2 of “Believers as Family, Participants.”  Tomorrow we will enjoy our 3-minute Humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer, which will help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’If you would like to listen to any of our past 1500 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you Tomorrow!

[1] Heiser, M. S. (2019). Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.