Whose Image Do You Reflect?

Genesis 1:26  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

I believe with all my heart and soul that every word, every verse, every paragraph, and every chapter in the Bible is there for a purpose. Because of that it is my belief that God rewards the diligent student of His word.  As I read and studied on the verse above I all of a sudden noticed two words just kept jumping out at me. I just could not figure out why the Holy Spirit used two similar words to describe how you and I were made. Notice the words, "in Our image, in Our likeness." Image and likeness are closely related, yet they are not quite the same. Let me try to illustrate what the Holy Spirit illustrated to me recently.

When I met my husband Joe, he did photography as a hobby. When we got married we did not have to hire someone to take our pictures, because he already had the commercial camera equipment needed to do the job. Because of this he taught someone to use his cameras to take our pictures. He also had a dark room where he developed the pictures and I have many a time watched him develop a roll of film.  I saw an image appear from film to a piece of photographic paper.

Now we have digital cameras that when we take a picture it automatically appears on a LCD screen on the back of the camera. If we do not like the picture we can just delete it and make a new one.

But to get to the point, think about this example. When I take a picture, I, the one who "created" the image on the LCD Screen can see it. Now, when I download the image and print this photo, anyone who sees the photo can see the "likeness" of that image.

God, our Creator, can see His image in us. His desire is for others to see His likeness in us, through our actions, words, deeds, etc. God sees His image through all our faults, our sins, our foul balls, and the like. Our Creator can see the image, when even we can not. Can others see His likeness in you? And just as importantly can you see the image of God in others, the value that God places on others? More importantly can you see that image , when others are not at their best? Can you see past the murky stuff and see the real value in people? All people matter to God, therefore all people should matter to us.

You see, we can not have the right values until we place the right value on others and ourselves.

Are you shortchanging yourself? Are you shortchanging others? When we grasp the value that God places on others, and us we grasp the right values and hopefully then we being to do this thing call life, right. When we place the right value on others and ourselves, out of that value, flows a reflection, a likeness of God's image in us. All our actions and decisions in life are influenced by our value system. Remember life is not life a digital camera, if you mess up you can delete it and do it over. A harsh word or thought can hurt someone and put a deep scar in their heart.

To determine your value system look at the examples below and think about how you would handle them.

"Husband says, "How about us taking a walk?" You say, "Not right now, I have to finish washing the dishes, then I want to watch the soap I taped today."

"Wife says, "Why don't we go to the movies this weekend? ." You say, Why spend that money when you can see it soon on TV." 

"Child asks, "Hey do you think we can go hiking this weekend?" You say, "Not this weekend, I planned to watch a sports event with my big friends. Maybe some other time." 

"Child asks, Can you teach me to bake cupcakes this weekend, because I would love to take cupcakes to our class party at school next week?" You say, "You know that I work all week, and on the weekends we are so busy, but some other time I will teach you."

What is the value message in these examples? The message is loud and clear even to a two-year-old. The message is , "I value watching fiction life on my soap opera more than you, I value the money I think I would be wasting more then the time we would have together going to the movies and spending an evening or day out with you, I value spending time with my adults friends more than taking the time to make a memory with my children. You can plug anyone and any example into the above examples. If you or I laugh at the racial or ethnic joke, you are devaluing one of God's image-bearers. If you or I mismanage our finances and can't give to God, we are placing a higher value on worldly items than God.

Do you get the picture? See the image, the likeness? Lord help us to grasp the real value You have placed on us and others, so that we can have the right values. Help us to strive to be more like the perfect image-bearer, Jesus Christ. Help us reflect that image in all areas of our lives, In Jesus Name I Pray, Amen and Amen