Image

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” 2 Corinthians 3:18

Image – Reach into your pocket and pull out a coin.  Any coin.  On that coin is an image.  How did it get there?  Once that coin was nothing more than a piece of flat metal.  It had no picture on it.  It represented nothing.  But that metal was placed in a stamping machine and pressed with such force that it was conformed to the image of the stamp.  It became a representation of the original.  It was transformed into the same image.

We already know this Greek word; we just don’t know its deeper meaning.  Eikon is the Greek root of our English word “icon”.  It means “image or representation.”  But there is a small twist that needs to be revealed.  An eikon always presupposes an original prototype.  Unless there is an original in the stamping machine, nothing is transferred to the new coin.  Unless the stamping machine presses the new image into the metal, there is no eikon.

God is in the stamping business.  He takes the metal of his children and transforms it into representations of His original prototype.  Of course, this is not such an easy process.  He doesn’t usually start with unpolluted ore.  He has to refine it in the fire.  He has to burn off the impurities.  Then He has to cast it into workable pieces.  He has to roll it and hammer it until it is flexible enough to fit into the stamping press.  And then He has to exert enough pressure and force to put His image into that newly formed piece of metal.  It takes a lot of work, but He has had lots of practice and He is a very good craftsman.  In fact, he never makes a single mistake.

Becoming an eikon is pretty tough on metal.  There is usually a lot of stress and strain.  There is bending and hammering and rolling.  But the goal is worth it all.  Look at that coin once more.  How useful would it be if there were no image on it?  It is the image that gives it value.  Just so in God’s view.  It is our image of His prototype that gives us value.  Let the stamping begin.

The next 24:  Today I will let one area of stress in my life press me into His eikon.  Just one.  Just today.