Made In His Image

God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

It’s All Good

I remember in middle school I would go into my room and stare at myself in the mirror. Sometimes when I did this, I would have told you that what I saw did not look good as I nitpicked myself apart. I thought I needed to be skinnier in order to be pretty enough. Sometimes my words to myself were not kind, and I was so critical of the features I had.

But what does God’s Word tell us? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). He spoke light into existence and separated the light from the darkness. He separated the sky from the waters and the seas from the land. Then He created all of the broccoli and kale and apple trees and blueberry bushes, and He placed the sun and moon and stars so strategically in the sky. He created the birds and fish and animals and livestock and creatures moving along the ground.

And He saw that all of it was good. You and I included.

The Intricate Creator

When God said that what He created was “good,” He meant that it was beautiful, bountiful, and lacking no good thing. All of creation is so intricate. When I think about it, I smile so big. For example, the animals that He made reveal His creativity and humor and glory all at the same time. I love how pigeons walk. When I went to New York with my family, my mom and I laughed so hard as we imitated the fun way that pigeons bop their heads with every step that they take. Hummingbirds flap their wings about eighty times a second and eat half their weight in nectar and insects each day. God showed the bees how to produce pollen, and it does not even seem to make sense for bumblebees to be able to fly because of the size of their wings and the weight of their little bodies. But because of how God designed them, they fly. He taught the fish how to swim, and there are still so many creatures in the ocean that we have yet to learn about. He is the One who leads the baby sea turtles from the sand to the sea.

I love how He paints the skies with different strokes of yellows and hot pinks and blues for the sunrises and sunsets. My heart gets giddy simply thinking about how the clouds and sun explode in joy to praise the Lord through colors that make my jaw drop. He calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4) and has positioned the sun exactly where it needs to be to provide warmth for the earth! “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1).

In His Image

In all of this beauty, God said that what He created was good, but there was only one thing that He made and said was good that was in His image: human beings. In the image of God, He made male and female. In His image, He made you and me. We look at the mountains and the canyons and the seas and the landscapes and the sunshine and the stars, and we are in awe, but the Lord is enthralled by your beauty, and it is you who He delights in calling His own. You are even more creatively made, perfectly designed, and excitedly crafted than all of creation because you are made in God’s image. We are the only part of His creation that was made to be in relationship with Him, and He reveals His very being by how we were purposefully made.

I once heard that insecurity is having a high view of everyone but having a low view of yourself, and arrogance is having a high view of yourself but having a low view of everyone else. Confidence, though, is having a high view of yourself and others. To walk in confidence is to know that your image and the image of every person you encounter is a reflection of the Creator. Psalm 45:11 says that “the King is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him for He is your Lord.” Do you believe that? The voice of the enemy brings anxiety and either insecurity or arrogance. But God’s voice brings peace and confidence, declaring that you are sealed in His identity and are an image bearer of Him.

One of the greatest ways to honor the One who made you and is enthralled by your beauty is to believe that you are who He says you are. And if we believe that we and those around us are who He says we are, then we should treat both ourselves and them as such.