Everyone “thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:2a). Life and death are absolute opposites. The one delights & refreshes while the other destroys & repulses. Life is real, true existence. Death is nothing–the end of existence. So, no mistake could be as fatal and harmful as this: to trust death to help you, to fulfill you, to save you. This happened whenever one trusted in “worthless idols” rather than in “the Lord (who) is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King” (Jer.10:10). But, idols do not have to be wooden. “Greed is idolatry” (Col. 3:5b). Whatever & whomever you crave MORE than God is your idol at that moment. And all idols are deadly! To fondle them is to play with stinking, wretched death. We are warned to “Turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth” (Acts 14:15b). It shouldn’t surprise us that God does not look lightly on those who turn from life to death. From what He promotes to what he condemns. Especially when desperate sinners like us turn away from Jesus, who is the water of life, the bread of life, the light of life (John 4:14; 6:35; 8:12). In fact, Jesus simply is, life itself (John 14:6a). He is greater than death. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25).

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When something is perfect, a pattern or model is made of it. This helps preserve its perfection and reproduce its superior beauty or usefulness. Since God is absolutely perfect, there is no possible improvement to him. When God created man he said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule….” (Gen 1:26). So, there are ways in which we are like God. “With our tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness” (James 3:9). The reason humans are cursed is that the image of God in us has been largely lost due to our sin. This loss of perfection has led to the loss of heaven. Can the image be renewed? Can we be saved?

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