Guest Author: Liz Holt
In the 1965 television classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie’s stress level gradually increased until it went through the roof. He experienced the disappointment of receiving no Christmas cards. Then, at Lucy’s 5 cent psychiatry booth he received a diagnosis of nothing less than panphobia, the fear of everything. Not to mention his failed attempt at directing his unruly friends for a nativity play. And finally, he endured the ridicule of putting his hope in a spindly Christmas tree to upgrade this struggling production. He told Lucy, “I am in sad shape.” All these circumstantial difficulties arose because Charlie found himself on a quest to find the true meaning of Christmas, and on the journey he felt lost.
His faithful friend, Linus was by his side throughout the entire crisis. When Charlie’s panic hit a crescendo, he cried out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” And at the right time, Linus told Charlie that the answer to his question was found in the Bible–Luke 2:8-14. Take a look at that! And Charlie Brown, who had come to his wit’s end was finally ready to hear and receive.
Dallas Willard, an American philosopher so aptly described the wandering soul, “Truth reveals reality, and reality can be described as what we humans run into when we are wrong, a collision in which we always lose.”
Stories of humans, using their free will to wander away from their Creator and subsequently collide with miserable realities are all over the Bible. The most instructive story is in Genesis 3. The perfect father figure, God, became the first parent to experience the sorrow of his two children, Adam and Eve turning away from Him to follow a different authority. Their Father of perfect love did not chase them down to renegotiate a better contract. He patiently waited for them to discover what life would be like without Him. And they freely returned to the Lord a chapter later, “Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26). To call upon the name of the Lord is a sign or a mark of knowing Him and connecting with Him.
Jesus told another story similar to this one in a parable, Luke 15:11-32. Another wandering son thought he could grab his father’s inheritance, head to a far country, and spend his money recklessly to live according to the lust of his flesh, the lust of his eyes, and the boastful pride of life and be happy about it! Instead of arriving at utopia though, this lost son eventually ended up starving and was forced to learn gut wrenching lessons in a “classroom” called, a pig sty. The father in this parable also waited and watched for his son to use his free will to return to him, which he finally did.
Many of us know these two similarly themed Bible stories well. But these stories might carry much more weight if we knew a hidden detail about Adam, Eve, and every other son or daughter, like you and me.
In Genesis 1:26 the Bible tells us that all humans were created in His likeness, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” The Hebrew word for likeness is the word, demuth. In the ancient Hebrew writing system the alphabet consisted of pictures not just phonetic sounds.
The Hebrew word demuth, for likeness was written with four letters. The first letter, (Daleth) is a picture of a door with a pathway. The second letter, (Mem) is a picture of turbulent waters, meaning massive chaos. The third (Vav) is a picture of a nail meaning security. The fourth letter (Tav) is a picture of 2 crossed sticks, similar to a cross that means a seal, mark or a covenant.
An expert in the Bible’s original languages, Skip Moen, Ph.D., asks, “What picture of likeness can we paint with these elements?” The idea of us being made in our Creator’s likeness, “…could suggest the combination of a seal or covenant holding us secure in a pathway through chaos. Perhaps the likeness of God is about His trustworthiness, His promise, His reliability in a covenant relationship with us despite the inevitable chaos in the cosmos around us.” He is the perfect partner, and we are the imperfect.
The word “likeness” has to do with humans functioning like God. We can help others at the right time to step out of their chaos onto a pathway of covenant. But the help must come at the right time. A son or daughter, who is lost, must come to their own conclusion about their lostness before a covenant with their Creator becomes a desire and makes sense.
Highlighting the pictogram, we can see that our likeness is a declaration of a bridge between God and man. There is a bridge in the concept of covenant, and this embryonic spark of covenantal relationship with our Creator occurs instantaneously at creation. Pathways and chaos also play a part in the journey of finding God and becoming who we are in Him. Our inner man has been designed and destined to bring order into chaos first in ourselves and then on the earth. Our likeness to the covenant-making God plays a part in our messy journeys.
Conclusively, God honors us and loves us by giving us free will. Our heavenly Father wants His sons and daughters to want Him. And the process of exchanging the desires which bring us chaos for ones that bring us order can take a little time. Just ask Charlie Brown!
Liz Holt
Women’s Ministry Director
