Skip to main content

What does being made in his image mean?

Genisis 1:27 

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them” 

If you asked me this question when I was younger, I probably would have assumed you were talking about the physical attributes of God. I envision God to have white hair, a white beard and all the other facial features of a man. Without context, it’s easy to make this association, but if we look at the root of the word “image”, we get other words like “nature” and “likeness”. Chronologically, God made us in his image (Genisis 1:27) before he formed us (Genisis 2:7): clearly showing that our likeness and nature are more important than the formation of our body (in other words flesh) 

So, in simplicity, being made in his image means we share the same characteristics of God, not physical, but internal. But still, what does that mean? 

We can’t truly understand our nature and likeness, if we don’t understand God’s nature and likeness. Luckily for us, God maps out his character in 66 books in the Bible, but today I want to zoom in on only three: all of which consist in Genisis. 

One of the first characteristic of God that is explored is his creativity. In fact, within the first line of the Bible this is demonstrated. From the very start of existence, God was creating (Genisis 1:1) This shows that creativity is part of the identity of God, and if we are made in his image, that also means part of our identity is to create. This isn’t me saying that God is calling you to paint the ‘Mona Lisa’, but part of your inheritance is to explore your creativity, whatever format that may look like. 

The next characteristic isn’t explicitly mentioned but if we look at all the actions of God, it all points to the fact that God has authority. God’s authority isn’t explained it’s illustrated. He doesn’t just have authority, he is the authority, and that is over everything seen and unseen. Because we are image bearers, God gives us an element of authority (Genisis 1:28) and this is done through responsibility (Genisis 2:15) But through our own authority, we should never neglect the source of authority.  

The last characteristic explored is his goodness. Throughout Genisis 1, while God is creating the earth, a common phrase is “And God saw that it was good”. God in nature is “good” and so everything he produces externally is good. We adopt that same goodness but because we were born into sin, our “goodness” is achieved through God. “Goodness” is a fruit of the holy spirit, and we must first accept Jesus into our lives and receive the gift of the holy spirit.  

If there’s one thing you leave with today, meditate on the fact that you are more than just the formation of your body. Your flesh doesn’t have sovereignty over you, because you are made in the image of God.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Equipping ourselves

Ephesians 6:13   “ Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand”   Recently I had a conversation with one of my friends. Before our interaction, I didn’t set any expectation other than simply just seeing how they were doing. To my surprise, my friend asked me a question: and what was just a simple question, felt like an opportunity for me to express my faith. If I had not already had a foundation of God’s word, it would have been a missed opportunity. We are all presented with opportunities, some we may not be aware of, others we may not feel comftable in expressing, but all of them we need to be equipped for.    Our faith and belief are counter-cultural: it doesn’t agree with the views of today and goes against the perspectives and viewpoints of the society we live in.  As long as you claim to be a Christian, there will be people that dis...
Post a Comment
Read more

God is proud of you

Mark 1:11 “And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” A couple months ago, I had a friend say to me “God is proud of you” and I nearly broke down in tears. How could five words impact me so much? Never hearing or honestly believing it, my perspective changed on a lot of things. We all are our worst critic, and with that comes being very hard on ourselves. Living lives aiming to be perfect, yet sometimes we miss how detrimental that can be: associating our value in our pursuit. I think at times we treat God as a form of teacher or boss: in the sense that if we provide something, whether it’s a high grade or a substantial amount of work, we are deserving of validation. In our lives, this may look like praying a certain number of times, maybe it’s fasting for a couple more hours, or even reading an extra chapter of the bible. Whatever it is, I think we are all guilty of thinking that if we do more, that somehow God’s love for us will be cor...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pressure doesn’t make diamonds it points to it

Psalm 118: 5-6   “ Out of my distress I called on the  Lord ; the  Lord  answered me and set me free. The  Lord  is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”   I never understood the phrase ‘pressure makes diamonds’: obviously I understood the context, however I could never relate to it. The phrase suggests that press ure is something to be embraced or celebrated because something good was going to come out of it, but in my life, it was never the case. Every form of pressure that approached me seemed to lead to disappointment. With every exam I put pre ssure on myself for, were the ones I did the worst on. With every basketball game I put pressure on myself for, were the ones I played the worst. It was an unescapable loop .     I’m not saying every pressure leads to disappointment, but pressure that is relied on your strength will eventually catch up to you. Our pressure doesn’t make diamonds, it points to our diamond: our tre...
Post a Comment
Read more