Hebrews 1:3a
"He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of His nature,
and the exact imprint of His nature,
and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."
Six and a half weeks ago I had to remove my rings in preparation for surgery. My engagement ring came off fairly easily, but my wedding band came off painfully after slathering lotion all around it. Obviously, they have rarely been off of my finger. Once removed, I determined that I needed to have the wedding band resized before attempting to put it back on. It did not feel tight; however, once removed the imprint was quite visible on my finger and remains thus after 6.5 weeks. I kept forgetting to take my wedding band with me to town in the first couple of weeks after surgery and then COVID-19 hit and the jewelry store is now closed.
Although I cannot get my ring enlarged right now and don't want to fight getting it over my knuckle again, the imprint is a visible sign of my 36 years of marriage and a reminder of my vows. It amazes me that it never felt constricting. It reminds me of a tree that grows around any object embedded in its trunk. I "grew" but the wedding band and what it stands for remained constant and now the imprint remains even when the band is removed. It's actually quite fascinating to me.
A couple of days ago I was reading in Hebrews and the above verse caught my attention. Jesus is the "exact imprint" of God's nature. Jesus is God and while He lived on this earth, He demonstrated the exact nature of God. Wow! Let that sink in! Then we are given the privilege of being called God's children when we believe in Jesus (another Wow!) as it says in John 1:12. "Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." Jesus was our example of how to live and He is the exact representation of God the Father, Our Father. While we cannot have God's exact imprint or live a sinless life, like Jesus did, still as Christians there should be a visible imprint of Christ on the way we live our lives and our witness should leave an impact on those we come in contact with no matter where we are and whether we think anyone is watching or listening or not.
In these days of Coronavirus, we have the best news for anyone. Jesus said do not fear or be anxious, take one day at a time, God's mercies are sufficient for today, cast our burdens and worries on Him. Anxiety just weighs us down. God is enough for any situation. Yes, be wise, but don't be fretful. Let's live lives that show we believe this and share with others why we are not anxious during these strange and unusual days. Let's allow Jesus' words to penetrate our minds and thoughts and become part of who we are. Let's grow around God's word that stands firm and let the imprint of that Word show. We are so blessed to have Bibles in abundance, but that may not always be the case. Let's hide His word in our hearts, so that even if we don't have a Bible at hand, we have the imprint of its words embedded in our hearts.
Hebrews 1:1-4
Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through whom also he created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God
and the exact imprint of his nature,
and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become as much superior to angels
as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
