Made In God's Image

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

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. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

According to the Bible, God created everything that exists. You can argue that man has learned how to create things, but if you think about it, everything they used to build was using things that already existed. God created everything out of NOTHING!

Verse 27 of Genesis 1 says that God created us in his own image. What do you think that means?

To understand what that means, we need to understand just who God is.

God is the Creator

Think of the fact that God created everything. EVERYTHING. Every plant, animal, and mineral, down to the smallest subatomic particle, throughout the universe. What an imagination God must have!

Your imagination comes from God. He gave you the desire to create and the imagination to think up new thing—whether it’s music, drawing, painting, building things, or coming up with a new trick shot or stunt.

Just because God gave us imagination doesn’t mean we always use it properly or wisely. We humans have thought up some pretty weird ways to hurt each other. But through the centuries, we have imagined and built great and beautiful things, and that ability to invent and create comes from the fact that we were made in God’s image.

God is Just

How many of you get upset when you are being treated unfairly? How do you feel when you know someone did something really wrong, and they get little-to-no punishment?

Even though we may think some rules are stupid don’t need to be obeyed, we still know right from wrong, and we know that choices have consequences. What I’m saying is that we all have sense of justice, and that comes from God.

God is Loving

Sometimes we have difficulty believing this about God, because we see so much bad stuff going on in the world, but God really is loving.

The Bible says that God notices every single tear we cry, and he comforts those who are filled with sorrow.

The fact that we are able to love is a reflection of God’s ability to love.

God is Omniscient

What does omniscient mean?

God knows literally everything, from the exact temperature of the sun to the distance between galaxies.

Matthew 10:30 MEV

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

The same God who knows all that other important stuff also knows everything about you, down to the number of hairs on your head! And he doesn’t just know this stuff like dumb old facts, he knows it because it matters to him. You matter to God.

We, of course, are not omniscient, but we all like to learn. There are certain things that interest each of us, and every person in here is a bit of an expert on something. We want to know and to understand the world around us because we were made in the image of the source of all knowledge.

God Enjoys Fellowship

God is everywhere all at once. He’s with you all the time, everywhere you go. The fact is, God enjoys being around you. He enjoys fellowship.

In the same way, we enjoy the company of people who get us and love us. We desire fellowship because our Creator values fellowship.

Made in God’s Image

So when we say we are made in God’s image, we are not just talking about physical appearance. God shaped us out of the dust, and then he breathed life into us. We all have God’s breath in us, keeping us alive. In the Hebrew language, the word for breath is the same as the word for spirit. So each of us has a bit of God’s spirit within us, encouraging us to live with honor and integrity before God.

It’s sad that we live in a world that does its best to run away from God. People everywhere are trying their best to deny God and fill their lives up with everything BUT God. The problem is that, since we were made in God’s image, we will never be satisfied with the things the world offers. We were made to fellowship with God and to use our God-given abilities to do things that honor God.

Psalm 8:3–9 ESV

When I look at 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, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!