The Imago Dei – In All Mankind: The Soul

Greetings Dear Reader,

As I celebrate All Saints Day I will address a subject more appropriate for All Souls Day.  In pondering the Imago Dei, the Image of God in all of us I think about the human soul.  There is something that sets us apart from the collective creation.  If I do not recognize this thing in my nature then I need not consider anything beyond my own desires and wants.

In creating me God has planted in me something of himself.  He has given me something that only he possesses independently.  In giving me a soul God states that a part of me will go on forever.  The eternal God puts a bit of the eternal in me.  This is what he will eventually reclaim.  This is what will survive to be returned to God once the mortal coil is spent.

In that part of God’s image is where the significance for the rest of it hangs.  It is that part of me that I must manage and nurture to be like Christ.  In my soul resides the understanding of God.  It calls to him for it is his.  What little I know of God is housed in the soul.  Any discussion of the Imago Dei must begin with that part this is most like him.

It is my soul that responds when God calls.  It is my soul that carries the things that draw me to him.  It is the soul that so vividly animates my conscience.  It is in this ethereal that I get my perspective on the material world.  It is here that I am tethered to the eternal.

I do not think that our storybook view of the future with God is accurate.  I do believe that what I do here influences my eternal relationship.  I believe that I can deny and damage the image within me.  I have lease over what I do about this tether to God but it is only that; a lease.  It will expire.  I will not always have a choice of how I relate to the Imago Dei.  I will be called to account for what I have done with that which was given me.

So as I ponder this aspect of the journey I begin with the end in mind.  What will I present when the Dei examines my use of his Imago?  Will I be what he has called me to be?  Will I use well the gifts given me and present something worthy?  It is in hope of doing all this that I ponder what I am given with gratitude.  Journey with me if you wish and perhaps share your thoughts with me.

 Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."