I like comparisons, metaphors, images that simplify ideas that are too complex and detailed to hold easily in the mind. The old comparison of “Life is like a football game,” provides an image that opens the details for discussion while giving a simpler context to use as a base. Today’s image is “avatar.”

An avatar is an electronic representation of a person in the digital world. We put together a representation of ourselves, as best we can, so we can interact with digital life in the digital world. We use avatars to play games, communicate, identify ourselves, in addition to whatever other functions techies can find. You might say we put ourselves in the digital world through our avatars. We, as individuals, are much greater than the world we enter and experience through our avatars.

Now here is an idea to consider. The creator of all the universe, He who is at all places in all times, has given us a face, a person, a complete set of characteristics that is He in our world. God gave us the gift of knowing an infinite God in finite form, such was His desire to relate and communicate with us. The lessons Jesus taught are all lively and relevant today as they were over 2,000 years ago because they address the same issues humanity has faced since the beginning. Jesus is our doorway to the infinite beauty and truth of God because He is emmanuel, “God with us.”

I realize this metaphor is oversimplified and doesn’t adequately deal with the subjects being compared, but it does give an image to prod and push our thinking about how much God has given us and how much access He has given us to Himself.