Human beings are made to conform. We’re created in an image – the image of God – to be conformed to that same image (Rom. 8:29, Heb. 1:3). Sinfully, we rebel against God and against his image, exchanging his glory for the supposed glory of creatures (Rom. 1:22-23). Nonetheless, our rebellion doesn’t change our created purpose of conformity. Instead, rather than be rightly conformed to the glory of God, as his children, rather than be molded to the form of ultimate reality and joy, we choose instead conformity to corrupted idols, to false gods of our own making. They look like us and they reflect us, but we become like them – blind, deaf, unable to smell, unable to feel, lame, and dumb (Ps. 115:4-8). In conformity to idols, we mimic life while lacking the essence of life.
We need a savior who brings living flesh from dead stone (Ezek. 11:19, 36:26). We need a savior in whose image we are reborn, recreated, and to which image we are infallibly and inevitably conformed (Jn. 3:3, 2 Cor. 5:17, Phil. 1:6). We need Jesus.
“The dead do not praise the LORD,
Nor do any who go down into silence;
But as for us, we will bless the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
Praise the LORD!” (Ps. 115:17-18, NASB)