What do you think it means to be made in someone's image?
I share or reflect the image of both my parents in different ways. I have curly hair and brown eyes like mum. And I am wordy like dad.
God, our heavenly Father, made all of us, so it makes sense that we would share some of who He is too. But unlike our biological relatives, we don't reflect God's appearance, but instead reflect parts of his character.
Have a look at the following passages to see what the Bible says about this:
- Genesis 1v26-28
- James 3v9
God made us to be like Him
People are like God in a way that no other living thing is. But, because of our sinfulness we are imperfect images of God.
Because of our sin, we often forget that we are made in God’s image and that He is our Heavenly Father.
When something is damaged, it needs repair. This is what Jesus does for us when he saves us through his death and resurrection on the cross.
Colossians 3v10 describes our salvation by saying, “we have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (God)”.
We are meant to copy Jesus, who is the true and perfect image of God.
The fact that we are made for relationships, we communicate, we are creative, we love, we can tell the difference between right and wrong, and we care about the truth – all these traits are also ones that God has. We share these traits with God.
But what does this all mean for you and me?
- All people have value and worth
- Our bodies are made by God – they’re precious
- We should live out the characteristics of God that we share with him (such as caring about truth)
- Our relationship with God is important and our relationship with others is important
- Christians can look forward to the time when our broken images will be fixed because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.