CHRISTMAS
(Luke
2:1-14)
God made man into his image and
likeness. So when God loves man, it is His own image and likeness in
man that He loves. And when God commands us to love one another, it
is the image and likeness of God in others that we love. Because,
apart from this image and likeness, there is nothing to love in
man.
All men are born with this image
and likeness. And man will never lose it. Original Sin is the
condemnation that, as we grow up, the image and likeness of God
begins to be covered with our sins. As God's image becomes less and
less discernible, man's behaviour becomes more and more
bestial.
The entire Advent and Christmas
spirituality consist in Christ teaching us how to restore the image
and likeness of God in our souls. Because the less the image of God
shines in us, the less God loves us. The more the image of God
shines, the more God loves us. Our ability to love God and neighbor
is dependent on how much God loves us. "We are able to love God
because He has loved us first."
Christ was born to show us how to
polish that image: "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of
heart." Humility is the beginning by which God's image shines
in our souls.
No matter how great a sinner a soul
is, there is always a little of that image and likeness that remains
in him so God is still able to love him and effect the grace of
repentance in him. But when one blasphemes or sins against the Holy
Spirit, the image and likeness of God becomes completely covered in
one's soul that God finds nothing to love in the person. These are
the souls that Paul described as the "walking dead".
(updated 03-16-02)
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