LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: IN HIS IMAGE

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image…’ ”

~ Genesis 1:26

Have you ever wondered what it means to be somebody’s “spitting image”? I still have no idea where the “spitting” part comes from (and don’t really want to know 😊), but I’m pretty familiar with the whole “image” thing. It never fails. Wherever I go, if my family has gone before me, someone’s going to notice and feel the need to say it:

“You look just like your Dad!”

Those words are a bit strange to hear when you’re a girl, yet I always smile and say “thank you” because I know it’s true. I do look like him. The same high forehead, the same roundish face shape, the same nose, ears, teeth, and my eyes always disappear when I smile—yep, just like my Dad. Why? Because I’m his daughter. I bear his DNA (his and my Mom’s, of course 😉). I am literally built from the very bricks that make up who he is.

I am built in his image.

And it isn’t just biological. I can also think a lot like him, sometimes tell the same goofy jokes, and definitely love being alone and enjoying nature exactly the way he taught me to. Being in my father’s image isn’t just a physical reality for me; it is a thing of the soul. This isn’t just true for me. I love to see how often children who have been adopted wind up taking on the image and traits of their adoptive family. I’ve seen so many children that I would have never imagined weren’t biologically born to the home they now belonged to unless someone told me. Even in those situations where it’s a little more obvious, there is still something of the soul that makes it beautifully clear that that child belongs to those parents—even if their skin color is completely opposite. Why? Because being built in someone’s image doesn’t mean we just look like them physically, it means we are an expression of their person: a reflection of the very essence of who someone is.

I think you can probably see where I’m going with this. 😊

Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about the idea of God being Father. We’ve also talked a lot about Jesus (also God: once again, the mystery of the Trinity) being the Son and how He, through the power of the Holy Spirit, conducted His Father’s business and showed the goodness of God in real time on this planet. I’ve thrown in a few illustrations (including from The Rifleman: the classic t.v. show that kicked off this whole conversation) and made a few, hopefully, relatable points. However, up until now I’ve mostly been dealing with some pretty lofty concepts: beautiful and wondrous but not necessarily obvious in how they apply to daily life.

Well, here’s where that changes.

In the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, Chapter One, it says,

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

I do not here have time nor space to go into the many fallacies of the “theory” (though it’s actually more of a hypothesis) of evolution. To delve more fully into that topic, I highly recommend answersingenesis.org. But one of the most terrible ways the belief of evolution has wreaked havoc on our world is how it has stripped the human race of its dignity. Of its purpose. Of its glory.

We are made in the image of God, people! Just think about that for a moment!

What would happen if we truly believed that and then—just imagine—actually treated each other as if it were true? We are made in the image of God! No matter our stature. No matter our shape. No matter our gender (“male or female” and we don’t get to choose…but that’s another blog post 😉). No matter our color. No matter our bank account. No matter our ethnic background. We are all made in the image of God! He is our Maker. He defines our worth. And our worth comes from the fact that He made us as an expression of Himself.

Wow. Talk about ending racism.

But see, there’s a problem. Though we look like God physically, something is missing within our soul—even worse, within our spirit. Something has been lost. Sucked out. Blackened. God designed us to be His Children. He wants to be our Father. We are meant to bear His image—not only in our looks but in the very essence of our soul—yet, no matter how hard the human race tries, we just can’t seem to make it. We can’t be good. We can’t be kind. We can’t be loving. Not on our own.

We just can’t.

Something is broken between us and the Father, something way too big for us to fix.

Thankfully, however, like every good dad, God loves to fix things…

So He sent His one and only Son…

(Until next week!)

LIVE EPIC,

CHRISTIS JOY