OK, when you hear the word ‘icon’, you may think about people who are well known and have gained a following to the point that they are looked up to and revered. But I want you to think about a different idea concerning icons.
I work on my computer daily. When I turn on my computer, the Windows screen comes up. Those little symbols on the screen of my computer are called icons. Regularly I have to clean my screen because the number of icons accumulate and take up the whole screen.
Now think about the computer icons for a minute. And take, for example, this very document I am writing. It’s a Word document and will be saved to the desktop on my computer. When I do this, there will be an icon that will appear. Now, we all understand that the icon is not the document. It simply points to the document located elsewhere on the computer. Pointing to the icon will lead me to the original document and open my blog.
Let’s switch gears just a bit. In Genesis 1:26, the text reads, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And throughout the Scripture we are reminded that we are made in the image of GOD. That is a powerful thought to contemplate. I want to look at one of many passages that contain this idea.
Colossians 3:10 states, “…and have put on the new [man] who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” We again are confronted with the fact that we are made in the image of Him. Here is where we will tie the two ideas together. The Greek word translated ‘image’ in the text is the word ‘eikon’, the obvious origin of our word ‘icon’.
The lesson is clear. Just as the Word document icon on my computer desktop is not the original, but simply points to the original, I should serve as an icon for my Creator. I am, obviously, not the original but if I am carrying out my mission, I will be pointing others to the Original. I will be an icon for GOD.
There are multitudes of people who don’t know GOD and will never read their Bibles. But GOD wants me to live my life so that when the world looks at me, they see Him. I can point others to Him.
I am an icon.
No, not in the sense that I am a rock star or athletic superstar with people looking up to me. No one is seeking my endorsements or asking for autographs. I am an icon because I am made in the image of GOD the Creator. And, according to Colossians, when I put on the new man I serve as an image of Him who created me. Oh, how that should give my life purpose.