Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
I realize that many people today believe humans are simply the result of an evolutionary process. We supposedly began as tiny organisms in a pool of water, an accident of nature. Some find it easier to believe that than to believe someone created us. It also means that we’ve become the ultimate value on the planet and that we answer to no one but ourselves.
The truth is that we were created. We don’t have an independent existence. We receive life from God and enjoy life because of God. We’re not the center of the universe. We answer to our Creator. He chooses what’s right and wrong, and we are accountable to him. Whether something is good or bad isn’t based on whether we like it or whether it brings us happiness, but on whether God says it’s good or bad.
We are not God. We are limited human creatures with limited abilities, limited knowledge, and limited power. We are a creation of God.
But we are also God’s masterpiece.
We’re his greatest creation, the whole reason for creation.
The Bible says that, among all of God’s creation, we are the only ones to be made “in his own image.” There’s a Latin phrase that Bible scholars use here, imago Dei, which literally means “image of God” and comes straight from Genesis 1:27. We don’t know all that it means to be made in the image of God, but it separates us from the rest of creation. We are not, despite what some believe, equal to animals.
One thing the image of God means is that each of us belongs to God. We are to offer ourselves to God and his service and his worship. This is what Jesus was saying in Mark 12:13-17 when the religious leaders, trying to trap him, asked Jesus whether the Jews should pay taxes to Rome. Jesus asked them to hand him a coin, which they did, and then Jesus asked them, “Whose image is on the coin?” The leaders answered that Caesar’s image was on the coin, so Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17).
Jesus was saying that the coin bore Caesar’s image, so the coin belonged to Caesar. But people bear God’s image, so we are obligated to give to God the thing that bears his image – ourselves.
Bearing the image of God also means that every human being is intended to know, love, and have a relationship with God. Every person you know, good or evil, is someone God chose to create and who bears his image. That truth should impact how we treat other people. It also means that human life is sacred (see Genesis 9:6).
Why did God create? His purpose was to create people in his image, people he could love and who could love him back. God created a world where he would receive love and praise and glory from the people he created. All of creation, including people, is from God. And all of creation exists for God and his glory. Just read Romans 11:36, 1 Corinthians 8:6, and Hebrews 2:10, and pay attention to who it is that creation exists for and to. All of creation is from God and for God’s glory.
How are you doing with that? Are you living in such a way that you bring glory to God? Do people who see you have their eyes naturally drawn to God and his awesomeness? Or are you living in a way that dishonors God or doesn’t reflect God in any way?
Because God loves you, he created you. The One who created everything out of nothing created you to have fellowship with him, to be loved by him, to love him, to live for him, and to glorify him.
You are not an accident. You were made. You’re a beautiful creation of God. His masterpiece. You matter to God. No matter what you look like, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what your weaknesses are, God created you, and he loves you.
You bear his image. So give to God what is rightfully his — yourself.