The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Gen 1:26-27,
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
As I ponder a bit on what it means to be created in God’s image I marvel at the thought of it. Our God has created us such that we reflect some things about him.
I am clear that we are not “little gods”. He is the Creator, he is God, he is deity. We are his creation, we are human, we have limitations that do not exist in him. Although we read the “anthropomorphisms” as descriptions of God in the pages of Scripture, our God lives beyond the dimensions of time and space. As his creations we live within the context of his creation in time and space. He is and always will be God, we are and always will be his creation: mankind. Our existence relies entirely within his desire to maintain his creation. As a good friend of mine has been fond of saying, “Each breath we breathe is an extension of God’s grace!” How true that is!
My perspective on us being created in God’s image is not an issue of ten fingers and ten toes, etc. Rather it is seen in things like the ability to reason, to think. We have the capacity of will and self-determination that God has given us: an ability to make choices. God has blessed mankind with a capacity for creativity, industry, purpose and fulfillment. God has given us the ability to enjoy beauty, art, good food, those “enjoyable things of life”. Recreation and fun, a capacity for humor, a thirst for joy and an ability to love. All of these things I sense as what is meant that we are created in the image of God. We reason and reflect, we have emotions and we have the ability to exercise our own free will.
Unfortunately, we will read in Genesis chapter three that mankind exercised his free will and corrupted that which God had made and called as “very good”. Much of the rest of Scripture speaks of what God does to redeem what man has corrupted and what he provides his creation as a way back to him. It is here that I find a wonderful reflection of God’s image in mankind. As we turn to God and join his family we are told that we become a “new creation”. 2 Corinthians 5:17. As we are indwelt with God’s Spirit we begin to emulate that image of God more clearly, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. Galatians 5:22-23. People who reflect God’s character in this way are the most enjoyable to be around as, after all, they reflect God more clearly.
Just a few thoughts this morning as I think of what it means to be created in God’s image and what reflecting that image looks like today…
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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