Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” … So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. [Genesis 1:26,27 (NLT)]
It’s often said, “Like father, like son,” and that was true of my father-in-law and his sons. Although they weren’t carbon copies of their dad, the boys shared several characteristics with the man who fathered them. In the same way, because God created us in His image, we share some of His characteristics. Of course, there are many important ways we are not like our Creator—He is all-knowing, eternal, all-powerful, and ever-present. Without a physical body, we don’t have things like God’s nose, hair color, or smile. Nevertheless, we do resemble Him in the spiritual, moral, and intellectual attributes of our nature that distinguish us from the rest of the animal world.
Although we share some of God’s attributes, we share them only to a limited extent. I can be a good person, be good-natured, be good at something, look good, feel good, do good, and even smell good. Nevertheless, I am not wholly good. Although I can be in love, love someone or something, act loving, profess my love, and be loved, I cannot be love. While my family claim that my recipes for barbecue sauce, California dream bars, and buttermilk pancakes are perfect, I am not (and never will be) perfect. I can distinguish righteousness from wickedness, have righteous indignation, act righteously, and feel both righteous and self-righteous, but I still sin. I can recognize wisdom, act wisely, and, on occasion, even give wise counsel, but I am not wisdom and, while I can know the truth, discern between truth and falsehood, and speak the truth, I am not truth.
On the other hand, God doesn’t stop at doing good, loving wholly, performing flawlessly, acting righteously, advising wisely, and speaking the truth—He is goodness, love, perfection, righteousness, wisdom, and truth personified! Nevertheless, imperfect as we mortals are, we should resemble our Creator in our words and actions. I’m not sure we always do.
God doesn’t play favorites. Every human being, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, politics, language, wealth, education, religion, social status, power, or gender has been created in the image of God. Do we treat our fellow image bearers with the respect, love, and compassion due to all of God’s children?
Since all people are in the image of God, all deserve to be treated with the dignity the image affords. [John H. Walton]
Every human life is a reflection of divinity, and…every act of injustice mars and defaces the image of God in man. [Martin Luther King, Jr.]
“I’m so busy!” If there’s even a remote possibility that we might be asked to do something we’d rather avoid, we can cut off the request at the pass by starting the conversation with those words. It’s the perfect out. On the other hand, when said to us, we can’t argue with it.
Devotions of the Heart 