Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

What is God Like?

by Peter Horrobin

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1:16-17, NIV

There is a God-shaped hole in the heart of every human being which man has always sought to fill – hence the vast number of different religions, all of which are seeking to express what they believe God to be like. But it is only Jesus who can show us what God is really like. For, as Paul so succinctly expressed this amazing truth, ‘He is the image of the invisible God.’ If we want to know what God is like, then all we need to do is look to Him. If we want to know the way to go in life, all we need to do is follow Him.

Man saw in Him the embodiment of love, creative power, compassion and self-sacrifice. The Creator God who miraculously re-created those in need of healing. The Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. The ultimate, divine evidence of who we are, where we came from and, finally, where those who are willing to trust in Him are going. He came from Heaven and for those who are in Him that is our eternal home also.

When Jesus first called Simon Peter, He used those two simple words, ‘Follow me’. At the end of Jesus’ life, He used the same two words to renew the call to Simon Peter to follow Him for the rest of His days. As Peter followed Jesus, the Spirit of God followed Peter and, at Pentecost, empowered him when he preached the first sermon of his life-long ministry and the church was born.

The older I get, the simpler the message of the Gospel seems to become! To follow Him is the beginning and the end of it all. A never changing call to follow Him today, and tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that, until one day we will take our final human step and follow Him into eternity across the bridge which separates us from the realms of earthly time and the timeless all-embracing presence of the living God.

As I write these words, as a family we are mourning the passing of a dear family member who has loved and served the Lord all his life – but our loss is his eternal joy as he has taken that final earthly step into the glory of our all-loving Creator God. To be in Christ means, as Paul said, that death has no sting, for Jesus overcame death and in Him is life eternal. We can only imagine what God’s glory means, but the glimpses of His glory we see written about in God’s Word leaves me excited at what’s to come!

Peter Horrobin is the Founding and International Director of Ellel Ministries. The work was originally established in 1986 as a ministry of healing in the north-west of England, but today the work has spread round the world, with Ellel Centres in over thirty nations. Peter has been doing lots of writing recently, including the "Journey to Life" series which can be purchased online at sovereignworld.com.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.