Tuesday, Jan. 22

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  
- Genesis 1:1-3

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.  
- Genesis 1:26-27

It is interesting that the Bible does not start with who we are, it starts with who God is.  Most people today think of religion in terms of who they are and what they are receiving; my salvation, my blessing, my healing, etc.  But the gospel does not start with you, it starts with the character and nature of God.  When we read through the creation account in Genesis 1, we discover that God is the eternal, all-powerful, creator of everything that exists.  We also find out that He is a good and gracious God that takes delight in His creation.

The gospel message is not fundamentally about you (although you are a part of it), it is fundamentally about God and His glory.  It is only after we know something about who God is that we can begin to understand who we are.  Who are we?  King David asked and answered this very question in Psalm 8...
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  - Psalm 8:3-5

The simple biblical answer to the question of who we are is that we are made in the image of God!  What does this mean?  Among other things, it means that we share some of the attributes of our creator!  Now of course we don’t share every attribute God, we are not all-knowing or all-powerful (though sometimes we act like we are), and even those attributes that we do share are often marred and obscured by our sinfulness.  Nevertheless, we are still created in His image, and that means that we have the capacity to reflect that very nature of our creator!   Here are some the divine attributes we share with the God who made us in His image...

Holiness - God is absolutely separate from any evil.  While we are never perfectly holy, we can reflect God’s holiness when we repent of our sin and fight against it in ourselves and in the world.  
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.   - 1 Peter 1:14-16

Love - God alone is perfectly good and loving, and He alone is our source of goodness and love.  But we can reflect His loving character when we love Him and love those around us.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  - 1 John 4:10-12

Truth - God is the source of all truth and His Son Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all truth.  We reflect His image when we believe His truth over the lies of our culture and when we speak truthfully to one another.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”   - John 14:6
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor.  - Ephesians 4:25

Mercy - God is compassionate and merciful, He forgives our sins through Christ and He is patient with us when we fail.  We bear His image when we show mercy and forgiveness to those who have wronged us.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.      - Titus 3:4-5
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.   - Ephesians 4:32

Beauty - God is beautiful and glorious beyond description, and His creation reflects His beauty and glory.  We bear His image when we worship Him for the beauty we see in His creation, and when we create and enjoy works of beauty.
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.          - Psalm 27:4
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.   - Ecclesiastes 3:11

We could go on and talk about how we reflect God’s justice, faithfulness, righteousness, etc. The point is that you and I (and everyone else in the world) are made in the image of God!  If you are in Christ, then you have the Holy Spirit working in you to enable you to increasingly reflect that divine image to the world!

Jeff Frazier