You're Incredible - Made in God's Image

You're incredible! It’s really true, and I guarantee you that it will stretch you to consider the reason that you’re incredible. Most of us tend to gauge the value of people on what they accomplish or what type of image they project to others. This is all about something far beyond that.

Yes, you and I are incredible. And the great reason for this intrinsic human value is often referred to with a Latin phrase: imago dei. In English the phrase is image of God. You and I were "created in the image of God". If you are willing to consider this you may benefit, whether you think of yourself as religious or not.

There is one particular country where the pressure on young people is so intense to pass exams and enter the university that they are known to commit suicide over it. Their society places a primary value on performance and accomplishment. If you can't perform, you're not work much. And then there are countries where people are only valued if they are one sex, and not the other. So 50% of them, at least by traditional local practice, are trapped by this “system” of valuing some over others. But when people understand that they are created in the image of God, they can begin to be set free from these punishing value systems.

In the book of Genesis the words appear: “And God created man in his own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them.” This passage then goes on to describe something of what that meant. He blessed them and gave them the command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” And God also commanded the first couple to “have dominion over the other living beings.”

Embedded in this early account of creation are some tremendous things that place a high value on us, because you and I are descended from these first people. We are created in the image of God. We are commissioned to be fruitful and multiply. And we have responsibility to have dominion, or stewardship, over the earth. We are accountable, in other words, to God for how we invest our lives and energies in our environment and fellow human beings. Working together with God, human beings can truly bring order out of chaos!

Even though they may have forgotten why, people in some societies tend to treat human beings more nobly than do people in other societies. Some societies seem more aware of this accountability to God. Even though its not politically safe to point this out, societies that place a higher value on human life tend to be deluged by waves of refugees from places where people are less valued. We even see pockets within every nation where people are more valued and where they are less valued. It all springs from the way people view the value of humanity.

Made in the image of God. This calls us to a higher level. Our purpose is to live for more than just survival or comfort, although the pursuit of these things isn’t simply to be scorned. It’s often a dangerous world, and many people don’t survive, much less thrive. Those who don't understand or accept this intrinsic value add to the problem by blindly pursuing creature comforts as ends in themselves. Life for them is escapism, or whatever form of getting high they choose. And the end is often chosen at the expense of others around them.

So, more power to you as you think about being created in the image of God! If you want to study further about this, you can see it in Psalm 8. In fact, through the entire Bible you see God calling people to know Him, enjoy Him, and work with Him in helping other image-bearers know His goodness and provision. If you want to study about what happened to severely disrupt this high calling, I urge you to do that. You can look at scriptures related to “The Fall” and “Sin”. John Milton’s great classic poem Paradise Lost is all about this. Learning about this makes a study of Redemption and Grace very fruitful. That’s what the good news of Jesus of Nazareth is all about. But get the background first, because you really are incredible.