Beginnings: Created by God and for GodSýnishorn

As a Creator, God’s made some pretty amazing things. Animals, plants, oceans, mountains, stars, and sky—and the universe itself. How would you go about organizing them into a top-ten list of God’s all-time greats?

Thankfully, the Bible answers that question. You won’t find a ranked list of various animals or plants that God made, but you will notice that one aspect of God’s creation is elevated above all the others. The opening chapter of Genesis describes God’s work in creation by summarizing what he made on each day, and there’s a repetitious conclusion at the end of each day’s work. God looked at all that he had made and saw that it was good.

The word good seems like a weak way to describe the creation of light, oceans, and elephants—until you remember this is the perfect God of the universe doing the creating. If he says something is good, you can rest assured that he knows what he’s talking about!

But then we come to the last day of creation, when God makes the first human. God takes dust from the ground, fashions it into a person, and breathes life into this body.

However, unlike the rest of creation, we discover that “God created mankind in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). Humans are the only beings on this earth who were created imago Dei—in the very image and likeness of their Creator.

Importantly, the day that God makes humans finishes with a slightly different evaluation from the Lord. He doesn’t just see that what he has created is good. Rather, he looks at this act of his creation and deems it “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

The fact we were created in the image of God necessitates two conclusions about our lives. The first conclusion is that the lives we were meant to live can only be experienced in relationship to God. It is impossible to “image” God unless we have a relationship with him. Unlike animals, we have the unique capacity to know God, talk to him, and live in communion with the Trinity in an intimate way (see John 15:1–17).

In fact, the Bible tells us that people were made by God and for God (see Colossians 1:16). It’s no wonder all people have some religious hunger or awareness. They might deny these cravings or sedate them with all sorts of pseudo-gods, but deep inside all people is a craving for the relationship with God they were meant to experience. In the book of Acts, we read how Paul pointed out this truth to a group of philosophers in Athens:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17:22–31

The second conclusion we can reach is that we should give our lives to reflect God’s image to a watching world. Much has been written in an attempt to define the exact nature of the imago Dei and what it means to be created in God’s image.

Perhaps it’s best to think about the imago Dei as a mission—a purpose for life. If men and women live in relationship with God, they are able to reflect his image. Image-bearing isn’t just a description—it’s also an assignment.

Respond

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

How does your life reflect God’s image?

Prayer

Eternal God, help me reflect your image to those I encounter each day.