Creation... the earth, the cosmos, mankind.....beautiful.
God’s unique connection to human life emerges clearly in Genesis. “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26). God shares His breath of life with mankind. God’s life and image impart dignity and sacredness to all human life. The entire Bible consistently underscores this truth. Throughout church history, this truth has been captured in the Latin phrase imago Dei, which literally means “image of God.”
The way we relate to God and one another reflects God’s image. Reason, emotion and will are foundational elements of human personality shared with God and other people. God expresses all these perfectly. While human expressions are imperfect, our capacity to relate in all these ways reflects God’s image in us. God’s thoughts are not limited by any flaw, and He balances all interests in absolute perfection. Humans make reasoned decisions and explore the deeper meaning of life. God’s character includes love, joy, hate and peace. God designed people to experience joy and pleasure. We enjoy beauty, delicious food, art, fragrances, music and fine craftsmanship. God demonstrates perfect relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We yearn for satisfying human relationships.
Every human life holds value beyond the shallow measurements of external beauty, exceptional intellect or astounding accomplishments. Our human longing for identity and significance can only be satisfied when we understand our value to God. Deep within, our hearts long to know the God who knows us. We wrongly idolize many things because God instilled in us a need to worship Him. Finding identity and purpose in anything but God leaves us wanting.
Acknowledging God as the source of human dignity raises our passion to alleviate human suffering. The atrocity of human trafficking, murder, racial injustice, mistreatment of the disabled and elderly, and other social issues gain context when we view people as image-bearers. We can love and accept people not like us because we understand what binds us together as humans created in God’s image. To fail to see God’s imprint on humanity steals the worth and value God intended for all people. Without our life centered on God, we value things more than people and our own comfort over the welfare of others. Recognizing the image of God stamped on humanity changes the way we view ourselves and others. From BSF Genesis 2020 Notes
