Day 6: Man Is An Image Bearer

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

»  Make a list of the ways human beings re ect the image of God.

»  God made us in His image to “rule over” creation. How can we

do that in a way that re ects how He rules over us?

»  In what ways do you, designed to bear His image, seek instead

to craft your own image for your own glory?

»  Practice this week’s memory verse.

“I am made in the image of God. Therefore, if I do not know God, I cannot know me.”
- Craig D. Lounsbrough

SCRIPTURE

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in
our likeness, so that they may rule over the sh in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
- Genesis 1:26-27

DEVOTIONAL

A common practice of all ancient religions is the worship of images; idols, statues, and figurines - each designed to represent a specific god. Upon these, people were to pay homage, worship, or sacrifice according to their religion. The God of the Bible stands alone among the ancient faiths as the only One who not only has no images made of Him, but absolutely forbids that any be made. Why? Because He has made that image with His own two hands, in the making of mankind.

Men and women were made by God to bear His image, individually and in community with one another, and to do so by ruling over His creation on His behalf. The implications of this are staggering! As image-bearers, we see that our greatest glory is to reflect His glory well. Conversely, the ugliest thing an image-bearer can do is to seek to make an image of himself, for himself and his own glory. Your life was made to glorify God and it is in glorifying Him that you experience the immense glory you were made to behold.

Being image-bearers also means that there is no human being on earth that does not reflect God. No matter how much we smear, distort, or reject His image in us, the image remains, for it is eternal. And in the most beautiful act of God’s character, He, whose image we bear, makes himself into our image, to come and redeem us. Jesus comes as the “son of man” that He can join our suffering, redeem our failure, and restore us to the King who made us for Himself.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” - Romans 8:32