Created in God’s Image

“Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children:  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.”  Ephesians 5:1-2

Men and women were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), however God is a Spirit (John 4:24).  When Jesus came to earth the first time, He came as a human Baby with all the features of a human: a face, two arms, two legs, an upper and lower torso with all the organs of a human within the skeletal framework.  Could it be that God created man in the image He designed for Jesus’ human body before He formed man from the dust of the ground?  In other words, did God create man to look like Jesus’ human body?  Did God make Jesus to look like us or did He make us to look like Jesus?  I know one thing.  God made us with the intent to be like Jesus.  God said that He would make man in the image of both Himself and His Son, after their likeness (Genesis 1:26).

However, image does not only mean physical appearance.  God is a Spirit made up of love, goodness, and mercy.  It is in this image of these attributes of our loving heavenly Father in which He designed His creation to possess.  Man was not created as perfect, but rather he was created as innocent.  God did not create man to be a sinner, but since God has the ability to choose His actions, He gave man the ability to choose his actions as well.  We call it “free will”.  We know from the account of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-24) that both the man and the woman made a wrong choice, disobeyed God, and showed themselves to be untrustworthy of the privilege of reasoning and discernment, and thus all people descended from that time are alienated form their Creator because of sin.  Therefore, men and women are not capable of righteousness and goodness apart from God.  The good news, however, is that God, in His love and mercy, bridged the gap of separation between Him and His creation by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay man’s penalty for sin which made the way of reconciliation and redemption to whomever would believe in Jesus (John 3:16), repenting of sin, and committing to live for Him.  As Paul had previously written encouraging believers to be like Christ because they had been forgiven, he continued to emphasize the need to be representative of those who belonged to Christ.

Paul encouraged them to live their lives as the loving people of God because God had loved them first and gave His Son so that they could be part of His family.  Consider what Jesus did in all the suffering and pain He endured and then having to die a cruel death on the cross.  He knew that He would rise again and go home to His Father, but that didn’t make His sacrifice less painful, especially as He was mocked and jeered by so many people for whom He died.  He is still mocked, jeered, and disrespected today by multitudes.  When Jesus died on the cross, His sacrifice arose to His Father as a “sweet-smelling savour” or aroma, an incense of love and mercy that His Son would be willing to be sacrificed for many.  Without that sacrifice, no one would see heaven, but rather spend a dismal, despairing life of drudgery without purpose or meaning.  Folks think that life on earth is bad now, but it is practically a perfect picnic compared to what awaits all those who reject Christ.  For those who receive Him, this life is only a temporary training ground for the future home of paradise.  The choice is a “no brainer”, but it is astonishing how many people make the wrong choice.

Speaking of wrong choices, the individual who rejects Christ and the gospel will also make many more bad decisions.  It has been announced this week that someone leaked a draft of a Supreme Court decision which could signal the overturning of Roe vs Wade, the court’s decision made in 1973 which made abortion legal throughout the U.S.  Many pro-choice, rather, pro-abortion proponents gathered outside the Supreme Court, crying and screaming, because they fear that they will not be legally permitted to kill their unborn babies.  Think about how that sounds–murdering innocent lives, little ones who have no voice or rights according to the government.  I cannot fathom how cruel and unjust those are who believe that there is nothing wrong with taking the life of a baby.  I know that sometimes a pregnancy can be inconvenient for women, but they should have thought of that before they had sexual relations.  I read recently that three states, California, Colorado, and Maryland, are seeking to legalize infanticide, that is, the killing of a baby after it is born.  In Proverbs 6:16-19, there are seven things that God hates, and one of them is “hands that shed innocent blood”.  There is nothing more innocent that an unborn baby, a life created in the image of God.  Whether this law is overturned or not, we will still have millions of people whose hearts may never be changed and who will stand before God one day and face His judgment.  How much further can folks sink into depravity before Jesus returns?