If God didn’t love His own image then why create humanity in His own image? Indeed, after the fall He’s transforming everybody into the image of Christ who is the exact image of the Father. That’s billions of people being transformed into God’s very own image. I think it’s safe to say that God loves His own image more than anything.
Absolutely. God is love. Therefore God is in love with love. He’s transforming us into love. Indeed, Christ dwells within the body that is the temple. It’s called the new self created after the likeness of God. He lives within us. We are one with Christ. We fall in love with our true selves like a mother falls in love with her baby. I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who lives but Christ lives within me (Col. 3:3). I put on the new self having been created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth. (Eph. 4:24). There’s nothing narcissistic about loving and taking care of yourself first. Like we learned in A.A. we take care of ourselves first. This is what I mean by worship. It’s being in love with Christ. God is love so we fall in love with love or come into union with love. It’s our core essence. As Bill Wilson tells us in “As Bill Sees it”:
“Selfish”?
I can see why you are disturbed to hear some A.A. speakers say, A.A. is a selfish program. The word selfish ordinarily implies that one is acquisitive, demanding, and thoughtless of the welfare of others. Of course, the A.A. way of life does not at all imply such undesirable traits.
What do these speakers mean? Well, any theologian will tell you that the salvation of his own soul is the highest vocation that a man can have. Without salvation - however we might define this - he will have little or nothing. For us of A.A., there is even more urgency.
If we cannot or will not achieve sobriety, then we become truly lost, right in the here and now. We are of no value to anyone, including ourselves, until we find salvation from alcohol. Therefore, our own recovery and spiritual growth have to come first - a right and necessary kind of self concern.
Christ fulfilled and did away with sacrifice. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD. as it ushered in a new era. Our body is the Temple where Christ dwells. We worship Christ in the temple of the body. Therefore, we love, nourish, and take care of ourselves first. Nothing narcissistic about it at all.
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