EXPRESSING THE IMAGE OF GOD'S GLORY

Wow, God has done it again! Here comes the graduation of another new set of SSS three (3) students to the wide world after several years of intensed labours by their teachers. Not only that, students all over the nation would be transiting from one class to another. As teachers, we feel overwhelmed with joy and glory to see our students flying the colours of success in this corrupt society/generation. I strongly believe that every teacher desires to see his or her students’ moves forward towards being a light that shines positively in the society by being productive and civilised. Just like the teachers glory is heightened in seeing his or her students doing what he or she is being taught in the class room, so also is God going to receive Glory due to Him from our lives as humans if we express His glorious life to men and women around us. The world is in need of men and women who will express the deposits of God's gift and grace in them. People are showcasing what they got; whether is academic, intellectual, skillful, mental, or be it spiritual. One thing is sure and constant, that the heart of the father desires men and women who would and should express Him in their respective world/field of relevance. We have little or no expression of the God kind of life in our land, this is sequel to the fact that expressing it looks archaic to people around looking at how the abnormalities, unacceptable things and lifestyles have now become normalised and acceptable in the society. Also, there are several expressions of the gift of the Spirit in the land backed by so much deformity and bankruptcy of the fruit of the Spirit. Owing to all of these demonic normalcies in our society, God is posing these three questions to you now; "won't you be the vessel that I (God) would use to express my Glory to the world? won't you get serious to allow me forge, form, make and prepare you before you go out too early? don't you know that your manifestation to the world should be owed to your formational walk with me?" I believe these questions should fuel you to ponder about the level of Christ that has been formed in you! In Gal. 4:19, Apostle Paul said, "My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you, little." Any birth pang that has not yet produced, or is not producing the formation of Christ in your life will tantamount to much birth pang done in futility. The first birth pang a believer should seek to execute in his walk with God is to see that Christ be formed in his or her life. Suffice me to say that every academic environment (Government Secondary School for instance) is not saddled with the responsibility of producing students of intellectual capacities alone, but that in conduct and morality students can be a good representative of Jesus Christ in their society; hence, expressing God’s glory. The only way people can express Glory to God on the account of my life is when I express the Glory of God by living the life of Jesus Christ. This is to say that it's by expressing the Glory of God to the world that men can confirm if you are becoming like the Image of Jesus Christ!!! It is by allowing my life to shine that men (world) would see the life of Jesus that I got resident in my inside. The Bible says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16). In a nutshell, I am saying that let the light of God's Glory shine through your life to the world!!! Men can see Jesus life in my life if only I will angulate my life on a perpetual seeing of the Glory of God! We have people who are beholding and becoming like Jesus Christ but are not expressing the Life of Jesus Christ in there spheres of endeavours. It's an error!!!" One of the reasons why the street (our land) is bereaved of the Life of Jesus is because many are not beholding to become like Jesus, and also because the few who are becoming like Jesus are not expressing the image of Jesus Christ! It is not a godly trait for a secondary school to partake in exams malpractices. The outside world is full of students who can hardly read or write because students are promoted to the next class unduly, and also because students are asked to pay a token to be “wrongly helped” in WAEC or NECO exams. It is not an expression of God’s glory in anyway if a school gets all her WAEC/NECO candidates and students passed because they “helped” them through exams malpractice. It is capitally wrong to engage in exams malpractice of any sort to pass exams. Truthfully speaking, we are not the Image of God, we are only created in the image of God. We are image bearers of God and not the Image of God itself. We were crafted out as beings from an already existing Image, which happens to be God's image, and it's only Jesus Christ that is the express Image of God. The proof that sustain what I just said is in Hebrews 1:3 which says that: "He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high..." If you claim to have your life 'tilted', 'yielded' and 'angulated' to the Sun of Righteousness (Jesus Christ), you need to begin the expression of the life. Jesus' life was beheld by people around and we discovered that grace and truth was the full expression of the Glory He radiated. The Bible says that "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth." – John 1:14. What will be the dimension of God's glory that the world should wait for expression from and through your life? Don't hide it or allow it to be covered under a bushel. The Bible says, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."(Matt. 5:14-15). The world is waiting for the life of Jesus Christ to be expressed through and by your life. But remember, you cannot give a life that you don’t have. If you don’t have Jesus’ life, you cannot express it. You can have this eternal life by being again. It is simple; just believe Jesus Christ in your heart and confess Him as your Lord and savior with your mouth, and you will be saved. Congratulations to you if you have done this. You now have this life, therefore, go out there and express God’s glory. • To the graduating students!!! Go out there and be the light of the world • To the students moving to the next class and going for this vacation!!! Go out there and be the light of the world • To the teachers whom God has been using to groom these students!!! Go out there and be the light of the world • To everyone out there who has God’s breathe in him or her!!! Shine the light of God in this perverse generation. It is high time we express and manifest God’s glory in our world for men to see. God bless you! WRITTEN BY SAMSON OKPANACHI DANIEL