In The Image Of God
Scientific text books tell us man is just evolved like all the rest of living things. They would have us believe that we are just a step ahead in the evolution process from our ancestors the Apes. The story of creation tells another story. It tells the story of all things being created by God, but only one thing created for God. Man was created in the image of God. We have wrestled with what this means and untold books have been written to explain what it is to be created in the image of God. We are the crowning glory of all of creation.
While God cares and provides for what He has created, birds, plants, etc., it was man and man alone that was created for “relationship” with the Creator. Before sin entered the world God and man lived in “relationship”. After the fall the Bible tells the story of God’s work to restore that “relationship” with man. So what is my point? Maybe, just maybe we spend too much time trying to figure out “how” we are made in the image of God and not enough time trying to understand “why” He created us in His image in the first place Here is how I see the power of being made in the image of God. God dealt with our sin problem, not that we could go on sinning, but so we could focus on Him and not our sin. By putting our focus on Him and spending time with Him in relationship, we become more like Him, and the powerful result is we sin less. If we focus on our sin and not on God, we end up sinning more – not less. Remember what Paul said, "Bad company corrupts good character." I Cor. 15:33. If the negative is true so is the positive. Ever tried to quit a bad habit? The more you focus on the habit, the harder it is to quit!
Think of your life as a daily “conversation” with the Father. Everything you do, you invite Him to join you. Work, shopping, running the kids here and their, what ever your daily schedule entails, share it with Him. If something happens that makes you happy, share it with Him. If something concerns you, share it with Him. Picture the Father as your “unseen” yet ever present guess everywhere you go and in everything you do. That is relationship. I think that is what it means to be created in the image of God. More emphasis on what He was doing and less on what He was making of me.
