Our first grandchild Mason just turned one and he is so much fun! Over Christmas, his dad, our son, pulled ornaments off of the tree and poured through photo albums looking at pictures of himself at the same age. Mason is the spitting image of his dad!
As human beings, we may bear the image of others in the way we look, but as God’s creation, the image that we bear goes far beyond physical appearance. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Both men and women were created in the image of God.
The Latin term for “God Image” is Imago Dei. Our Imago Dei is the core of who we truly are, not just what we look like. It is who God created us to be. We all, male and female, were created as image bearers and simply being image bearers speaks to the deepest longing of our souls. Author Robert Mulholland says, “The image of Christ is the fulfillment of the deepest hungers of the human heart for wholeness…The most profound yearning of the human spirit, which we try to fill with all sorts of inadequate substitutes, is the yearning for our completeness in the image of Christ. The image of Christ brings cleansing, healing, restoration, renewal, transformation and wholeness into the unclean, diseased, broken, imprisoned, dead, incompleteness of our lives. It brings compassion in place of indifference, forgiveness in place of resentment, kindness in place of coldness, openness in place of protective defensiveness or manipulation, a life lived for God and not self.” This is a picture of the Imago Dei.
The longings for wholeness listed above are intrinsic to the deepest desires of the human soul. Whether male or female, we long for wholeness. We each crave kindness and compassion. We hope for cleansing, restoration, and renewal. And we know the power and freedom of forgiveness. These longings may be expressed and pursued differently because God created each individual as precious and unique, but a yearning for wholeness is at the core of every man and every woman. And perfect wholeness can only be seen through Christ.
Who do you believe that God says you are? Some of you may have grown up believing that you were inferior to a more athletic or smarter sibling. Some of you may have grown up being told that you were unwanted or unworthy. Some of you may be handicapped or struggle with a disorder. And some may believe that you are less than because of your gender or race. Regardless of what you have been told, the truth is that your God, your Creator, says that you bear the image of God. You are holy. You are pure. You are created with intentional purpose and you are loved beyond what you can ever imagine. So today, look in the mirror and say to yourself, “I radiate the Imago Dei!”
Lynette Fuson
Care & Counseling Director