I  believe that we can look at this three ways, past, present and future. Psalm 139 v 13 says, “You created every part of me, you put me together in my mother’s womb.” Every one of us has been known and created by God even before we were born. We each have that God spark of life, our soul, which returns to him at the end of our lives. For some that spark is like the pilot light on a gas boiler, quietly there but not obvious, for others that light has burst into life and is a roaring flame.

 

 

In the person of Jesus God reveals himself to us. In the season of Epiphany it is the light coming into the world so that all can know the transforming love of God in Christ. In the present tense it is the time that we really know in our heartsthat we are made in the image of God and want to get to know him better, to commit our lives to his service of love and to sharing the Good News, that lives can be turned around through the love and forgiveness that the Cross offers to each and every one of us.

 

 

The season of Epiphany is drawing to a close and we look to Lent, that time of reflection about how we are living our lives, what needs to be changed so that we can become more as God would want us to be, more loving, more forgiving, more Christlike? In Matthew’s Gospel we hear about Jesus being Baptised and then straight away being sent to the wilderness for 40 days where he will be tempted by Satan to give up the painful ministry that is ahead of him and instead have the riches of the world straight away. Christ rejects all that and in doing so gives us the model of how we can stand against temptation that takes away the true meaning of life.

 

 

So now to the future tense of being made in God’s image. When we have come to believe that we each have that spark of God in our lives, the pilot light bursts into life and we become a torch that is brighter than the sun because we truly know that we are loved and forgiven and as we get to know Jesus better we make him better known to others and we prepare ourselves for that future meeting with him, the time that our soul is released and we come before him face to face. How prepared we are for that time is where support and help is available right now.

 

 

Where are you on that journey of faith, do you need to speak to someone about moving that faith forward, can you help others in that search? Our churches are ready with Alpha courses, Bible study, Baptism and discipleship courses. When Philip told his friend Nathaniel he had met with Jesus, Nathaniel scornfully replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1 verse 46) Philip replied, “come and see.” Our message to all those who are seeking for a meaning to their lives is “Come and see.”