Jacob Waldrip
“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27
The image of God. The Imago Dei. (That’s the fancy way of saying it. Try to imagine me in the most southern version of my accent attempt to pronounce that one for the very first time).
The image of God means much. The theological concept, like many such concepts, contains more depth than the four simple words would suggest – contains so much depth I dare say it would take a lifetime to scratch the surface of what it means for humanity to carry God’s image.
Right now, though, the times call for simplicity. Times like these, with so much going on, beg for a simple (yet still engaging and challenging) theological reflection.
So here goes.
You are created in God’s image. So is your next-door neighbor. So is the guy in the county jail up the road. So is the Brazilian mother or the Russian father or the Chinese son or the Honduran daughter. That seems easy enough to accept, right? Everyone is made in the image of God.
I know times are complicated, but let’s take a slightly more complex step. Let’s add a “therefore.”
Everyone is made in the image of God; therefore, everyone has worth.
Friends, that is good news. And it is challenging news, especially now.
You have worth. God lovingly created you. God has saved, is saving, and will save you. God has saved, is saving, will save the creation you dwell within. That’s good news.
Here’s the challenge: that’s good news for everyone.
Too often we see someone that doesn’t look/think/act like us, and we label them with some human construct – DEMOCRAT! REPUBLICAN! NON-AMERICAN!
Let’s try this on, instead: every time you see someone, or read their Facebook post, or watch a news story about them, or watch them play a sport, or share an aisle with them in Wal-Mart, or tip them after they’ve served you a meal, or interact with them because they’re scanning your groceries – every single time, make sure this is what you think: “That’s an image-bearer.”
Your first thought may be something else – “LIBERAL!” “CONSERVATIVE!” “POOR!” “SPOILED RICH GUY!” But friends, that’s what Paul was helping us with when he said, “take every thought captive to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Our first thought may be prejudicial (Liberal! Conservative! Poor! Spoiled Rich Guy.) But let’s take that prejudicial thought captive to Christ and make our 2nd thought holy. “This human in front of me bears the image of God, and like me is being saved by Jesus, and dwells in a good creation that is being saved by Jesus, and like me needs forgiveness and grace and redemption.”
When times get complicated, like they are now, let’s run far from the human-constructed echo chambers. Instead, may the word of God echo in our minds: “In the image of God he created them.”
Approach the world that way – simple, yet challenging, but so, so good.
We are all image-bearers.
May we recognize God’s image in one another.