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36 pages

English

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Everyone is born with the innocence of not knowing what lays ahead, whether their lives will be beautiful or full of strife. We charge forth with no fear of failing nor falling, like every child whose goal is to stand and take that first step, when they do, victory is written all over their faces and it looks like nothing can top that feeling nor take it away. We are all born with an attitude of being a conqueror, we are all born fighting to survive, from that first instinct to take a breath as soon as we come out of the womb to our dying breath. If we are all born with the instinct to survive and thrive in life what happens along the way that causes defeat to grip our hearts by the time, we reach adulthood? If we are created in the image of God and have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the epitome of victory, overcoming death on the cross, what has happened to cause the image of God to be distorted within us? We are born into a sinful world that ends up stripping us of who we are. What is the image of Christ in us?

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Philosophie et théologie

Religion

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Publié par	Digital On Demand
Date de parution	01 juillet 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780639712543
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

CHRIST’S IMAGE IN US
BONGI ARGYROU

Written and published by Bongi Argyrou.
Copyright © 2022 by Bongi Argyrou
Edited by Trudi Joynt
Cover by S.B. Mchunu
Print Edition Printed by Print on Demand 5 Koets Road, Parow Industria, Cape Town, 7493
First edition 2022
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-6379-1253-6
E-ISBN 978-0-6379-1254-3
© All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Contents
LOVE
STRENGTH
WORSHIP
COURAGE
FORGIVENESS
POWER OF WORDS
FRUITFULNESS
CREATIVITY
THE HOLY SPIRIT
EMOTIONS
GENEROSITY
THANKSGIVING
INTELLIGENCE
POWER AND AUTHORITY
CONCLUSION

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.”
GENESIS 1:27 ESV
Everyone is born with the innocence of not knowing what lays ahead, whether their lives will be beautiful or full of strife. We charge forth with no fear of failing nor falling, like every child whose goal is to stand and take that first step, when they do, victory is written all over their faces and it looks like nothing can top that feeling nor take it away. We are all born with an attitude of being a conqueror, we are all born fighting to survive, from that first instinct to take a breath as soon as we come out of the womb to our dying breath. If we are all born with the instinct to survive and thrive in life what happens along the way that causes defeat to grip our hearts by the time, we reach adulthood? If we are created in the image of God and have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the epitome of victory, overcoming death on the cross, what has happened to cause the image of God to be distorted within us? We are born into a sinful world that ends up stripping us of who we are. What is the image of Christ in us?

LOVE
I never thought of myself as being capable of loving nor being loved. I always saw myself as being tolerated which resulted in my toleration of others. My experience of love was one that was something that happened on television, in movies, and in books. Nothing about what I saw or read seemed real to me, I could not identify with the characters, I categorised what I saw and read as people acting out a fantasy. In my mind it was not real nor something I could experience.
Love and love stories always seemed so beyond me, I had a family, yes, but we never really said I love you to each other, it was always implied, or so I guessed. Our parents cared for us deeply and gave us a lot. As a child I never felt poor nor a lack of anything, we always had stylish clothes, enjoyable food, a beautiful home, so what else could I need?
Love looks different from the outside when you watch a mom serving her tantrum throwing children, a husband working all day to put food on the table or even a friend choosing to watch a movie they don’t particularly care for because it makes the one, they are with happy. You look at of all this and it always leads to the one loving, losing, or giving of themselves, often from a place of emptiness or lack. From the outside it seems strenuous, so heavy, unattainable, and possibly even burdensome.
Some people grow up hearing, “If you love me, you will obey my rules. If you love me don’t do what you are setting out to do but do what I’m telling you to do.” An interaction between Jesus and one of his disciples in the Bible comes to mind as an illustration. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loves Him and each time, He tells him what to do.
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes Lord, you know I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you, Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17 ESV
Does this then mean to love you have to show love by doing something or can you just simply say, “I love you”.
Love is both a noun and a verb.
Noun:
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
sexual passion or desire.
Verb: (used with object), loved, lov·ing
to have love or affection for:
All her pupils love her.
to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
Verb: (used without object), loved, lov·ing.
to have love or affection for another person; be in love. 1
We are often taught that love is a verb, meaning if you love someone you have to do something to show or prove it. The beautiful and famous Bible verse that makes us all fall to our knees and thank God for his grace and sacrifice, is in John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”, proves that God loves us so much that he gave. This verse teaches us that when you love you give, you do, and it also shows God giving something, or rather someone whom he loves dearly; God calls Jesus his beloved son. God gave his best and he gave everything he has for us.
What does that say to us about love and how we should love. Does giving up your seat on the bus mean you love that person? Does buying a house, giving it away to someone else, and you then live on the street, show love. What does the bible say about loving each other? Does God command us to love each other more than we love ourselves or as much as we love ourselves? Mark 12:31a ESV “The second is this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
John 13:34 NIV says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This verse says it so much better, ‘as I have loved you’. Jesus modeled love when he walked on earth and ultimately died on the cross. I am aware that many people focus on Jesus dying on the cross, out of love, for the salvation of mankind but the truth is that God has been loving us since the beginning of time, scripture is full of proof of God’s love, from Genesis to Revelations.
Looking back at the scripture in Mark 12:31a ESV “The second is this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” could cause an array of thoughts and feelings to place oneself into a state of paralysis. What if you don’t love yourself, what love are you then supposed to give? Ephesians 5:29 NIV says, “After all, no one ever hated his own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.” This scripture indicates that I love myself even when I don’t think or feel like I do. The enemy lies to us and tells us we hate ourselves, but we don’t unless we are willfully harming ourselves. I have always bathed, eaten, done my hair and groomed myself, whether or not my self-esteem was high or low at the time.
This verse also proves that even when we don’t realise it, we can love others out of the love we have for ourselves. Loving doesn’t mean you have to be undertaking something huge, you literary do the bare minimum that you would do for yourself, it says in Matthew 7:12 NIV “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Yes, I have also done things to hurt my body but that doesn’t mean I hate myself; it just means there have been seasons in my life when I struggled with sin and times when I had been in search for self-acceptance.
So how has my love for myself and others changed over the years.
I was walking home from work feeling tired of life kicking me in my butt and just completely depleted. I ran into a friend and after chatting to him for a while I found myself asking him if I could go with him to church on Sunday. His response was pretty amazing as he said that he had been waiting for me to ask. Sunday came along and we took a taxi to town where he fellowshipped at a particular church, and due to him being a leader at youth he couldn’t sit with me during the service.
There I was sitting alone looking around and not seeing a single face that I recognised in the crowed but completely unbothered by that. Once worship started, we were asked to greet everyone around us and we then began worshiping. They had words on the screen so I didn’t have to worry about not knowing the songs, and looking like a fish out of water., During this time of worship I start to experience something strange whereby my mind seemed to become blurry. I remember feeling different and as if I wasn’t there. At some point the pastor did an alter call, where he invited people to come to the front of the church for prayer. I didn’t even hear exactly what he said, but I remember walking up the isle and lifting my hands when they prayed for me.
That was 14 September 2008, I didn’t know I was different or even knew wh