Back to the beginning
The creation story in Genesis 1, gives us a picture of how God created the universe and why, but today we are going to focus solely on the creation of humans, who are we and what did God intend our purpose to be?
Genesis 1:26-31
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,[b] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We see in this passage that we were created, we are not the creator, we were made by something, someone much bigger than we are, something that can be so easy to lose sight of in our busy lives and with our tendency to want things to work in a way that suits us!
We are not the focus or the centre, that space is reserved for our creator, God. Something we see in verse 27 though is that when we were created, God made a distinct difference between Mankind and the rest of creation, Mankind was created in His image, but what does that mean?
Imago Dei-The Image of God
There are a few things that make the creation of humans stand out from the rest of the universe. It is the first time we see the Godhead having a conversation “Let us make humankind in our image” (Verse 26) that image of the Trinity, pausing and discussing what is going to happen next, that picture of relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The next part that stands out is how once God has created mankind, He takes a look at all that has been created and rather than declaring it to be good like with everything else, He declares it to be VERY good (verse 31)
Then as if it weren’t enough to be created in His image, God then gives His good creation to the stewardship of mankind-setting us apart from everything else He has created, placing us above everything else in created order. Now that does sound like a rather big responsibility to carry, but God knew that, and He had a plan!
We have value, not because of who we are or what we do, but because we have been created in His image. It is not a functional thing, it is a gift from God, something that can be so hard for us to grasp and understand. We forget this important part of our design, and sin messes us up. What would it mean for us if we could grasp and remember that we are each made to this beautiful design!
We may all look, think and feel differently and come from truly diverse backgrounds, yet here we are, you, me everyone all made in His wonderful image, all declared to be VERY GOOD! How amazing is that?
Now what does all this mean to how we think about ourselves and others? We have so many names and labels for ourselves, yet the one that matters is that we are created in His image and He declared us to be VERY Good.
I will leave you with a beautiful video of a story that shows the importance of relationship.
You are Special-Max Lucado