Selfies and personal Busts of ourselves; to whom are we exposed?

Recently, we saw on the news where the governor of California had a bust made of himself, almost like the kings of past eras for the citizens to look at and worship their leader. Today, it is common for people to take pictures of themselves with their cell-phones. These are conveniently called selfies. For whose pleasure are these taken and how long will the images remain?

If God made an image of himself, would we be able to copy it? Well, let’s take a look at this question. Didn’t we already read what God said and agreed to among himself as a Trinity, where he said; “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness?” (Gn 1: 26).

Perhaps God was centuries ahead of what today’s self-centered people are now exposing themselves to whom we do not know. We know the assertion that we need to love ourselves, since we are made in the likeness of God. But, to create and implant images of ourselves all around does not portray the very essence of who we are. Many people could look at these signs of someone without any understanding of what they did to enhance humanity. Show me some courageous input that these pictures should reflect and then I will now admire their nameless image.

However, what about God and his direct premise of making man in his image, after his likeness? Just what did he mean by such a self-imposed expression?

Take a person who sees a helpless human-being and gets down on his knees to assist this person, he is reaching out in the very likeness of God. To notice another person who needs a human touch and reaches out with compassion, is existing in the very image of God.

Isn’t this the manner we should be exposing ourselves without painting pictures of a “who are you” without any idea of what you did not do?

The Lord, God, used the correct language of who this created man could become for each other was more than just rhetoric, it is the very essence of what God is and reflects himself with the hands and hearts of this new creation.

Taking selfies of ourselves shows, to some degree, there may be a loneliness that has become an outward expression of themselves, even if they are surrounded with family and friends. Somewhere deep within their persona lies a fear of not being noticed or worse not being given accolades of approval for their efforts.

There is a story regarding Mother Theresa who while on a train, on her way to a new location, viewed the people of Calcutta and heard the Lord tell her to return to these people. This is where her ministry would become her sanctifying plan of God for her sainthood. Her selflessness became an image of what God’s likeness is all about. That’s what a selfie looks like within human compassion.

Ralph B.Hathaway