How do you view your Heavenly Father? Jesus? The Holy Spirit? When you pray, what mental image do you have of the Divine Being to whom you're conversing??? We all do that. We all have a picture in our heads of God when we pray. And being creatures of habit, that image is probably one we've had for a very long time.... What do you think Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit are like???
My image of the God-head varies. My picture of the Father is something like my earthly father ~ with potential for wrath, but mostly loving, compassionate, patient and gentle. I like to picture myself sitting on His lap and Him holding me. I like to listen for His heartbeat, though I know He doesn't have a physical one.
My picture of Jesus changes vastly. I love to see Him as a love-sick Bridegroom counting the minutes until the wedding feast. I love to see Him as my Best Friend. My Lover. My King. My Saviour. This picture is by far the best way I love to visualize my Jesus:
The Holy Spirit's image is a little more illusive to me. I pretty much picture Him as a very sensitive Spirit-Being.
Our pastor used an excerpt from a movie scene as an illustration ( he didn't necessarily recommend the movie BTW):
dinner scene: (Ricky begins dinner prayer):
"Dear Lord baby Jesus lying in a manger...."
His wife interrupts: "Jesus did grow up you know!"
He replies: "I like the baby Jesus. When I pray that's who I like to pray to! When you pray, you can pray to grown-up Jesus, teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, whatever YOU want!"
He begins to pray again: "Dear Lord baby Jesus, with a fleeced diaper, wrapped up all snug and warm, curled up asleep in a manger...."
Grandpa then confronts him: "He was a man! He had a beard for Christ's sake!"
Ricky then states: "Well, I like the baby Jesus the best!"
His friend Cal says: "I like to picture my Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt, because it says, 'I want to be formal, but I'm here to party' ~ cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party too!"
One of his sons then says: "I like to picture my Jesus as a ninja fighter fighting off all the evil samurai."
His friend Cal says: "I like to picture my Jesus with large eagles wings and singing lead vocal for Lynard Skynard and a huge angel band!"
So, WHAT DOES YOUR JESUS LOOK LIKE???? Is he a stern father figure sitting on a golden throne waiting to bash you for wrong doings? Is He a large, grandfather figure with a long white beard like Gandalf? Is He the sweet baby Jesus in the manger? Do you always picture Jesus as a Caucasian male???
Do tell!
8 comments:
Your pastor is so right. I've had to really evaluate my concept of God in the past.
I really don't "picture" anything in my mind as I'm praying (maybe I should try that--practice it) but I do sometimes have a hard time remembering that Jesus is loving and pleased or happy with me, and therefore, I can pray about anything with confidence and assurance. I seem to stay down in the "condemnation" realm more than I should. More bogged down with what I have or haven't done or deserve.
Good post.....it's good to get me thinking, and a great reminder.
On kind of a silly note, I do always picture Jesus as a caucasion. I know he doesn't really look that way, and that doesn't bother me in the least, but the habits of childhood (before you realize) are hard to break.
What a great post to make me think. I really like the picture that you put on the blog post. That is a great image to keep in mind.
I must say that when I pray, I usually picture Him sitting on the right side of the throne in the 'thinking man's' position (chin resting on palm of hand and he is deeply thinking about what I am praying about). I like to think He is on the throne or to the right side of it because of His High and Mighty position. Yes, this does cause me to feel condemned or not good enough at times. But, I still picture Him as a loving God, unless I have messed up greatly, which I can often do.
I need to try to remember, which I am learning more lately with the things that are happening in my life and with the books I am reading, that His image does not change based on how I am feeling or what I am praying about. The only thing that changes is my perception of Him or my thoughts and feelings towards Him based on what I am praying about. That is SO HARD to let go of, because we are human and we do think with finite minds.
Also, I do picture Him as a Caucasion male, as Shana said, child-hood habits are hard to break from.
Those are my thoughts. Again, great post!
Great post...very thought provoking. I think most of the time I see Jesus just like he looked in all the pictures hanging up around the church where I grew up. You know the ones...where he was carrying a little lamb, or surrounded by little children. But other times, I see a huge throne and beautiful bright light. I can't really make out a person. And, yes I do see him as caucasion too...old habits die hard.
My pastor at Wesley Foundation in college had incredible eyes. They were so kind, and yet kind of wild. You could see love, compassion, gentleness, fun - everything good was reflected in his eyes. They were so remarkable that they were mostly what you remember about his looks - the rest is kind of a blur. That's how I see Jesus - with capturing eyes. And meakness - which by definition is "quiet strength". Most people have meakness all wrong. It is one of my most favorite qualities of my Jesus.
Great post!
Angie
Oops! I just consulted Webster's. "Meekness" is what I meant to type. I should really remember to use the spell check!
Also, that is not the English definition, but the translation of meekness is the Bible from the Greek. No, I'm not a smarty pants... I learned it from either a sermon or Bible study. It stuck with me because I loved it!
Angie
I picture him much like the picture you posted. Usually, standing with his arms spread out receiving the aroma of our prayers and praise. Sometimes I even see him waving the aroma to his face...like the Jews do when they light the Sabbath candles.
I loved this post. Funny, I am in Africa serving and for some reason I feel compelled to pray to see Jesus as an African, meaning I want to see him in my mind as one who dwells with the people here. Your blog aligned with what I was praying in a strange way. God is great.
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