Looking back to the very beginning- Genesis, we watch and we read as God makes everything out of nothing. Speaking life and existence into all that lies before us today and even more. Making forms out of the formless, drawing light out of complete and utter darkness, and creating life from dust. His spirit fell over the earth like a blanket and He painted a beautiful picture of life across the mountains and the valleys- fruitful, increasing, soaring. It was good. In the very beginning, God created all of mankind in His image, male and female alike. And before the very foundation of the world, God, in His goodness and kindness, had His people in mind. The fall was no surprise to our omniscient Father. He knew people would not worship and delight in Him. Knowing this, He didn’t have to give us aspects of Himself, but He did. God- the Holy one, pure and magnificent and wonderful- although unworthy, created us to reflect heavenly aspects of His Beauty and character. The same God that spoke existence into the mountains and the oceans and the atmosphere speaks worth and life into you, and calls you to bear His image. There is infinite worth found within ourselves when we look to the truth that we are created in His image. To know that not only are we created in the image of our perfect and righteous Creator, but that we, as reflectors of His light and image, are called to live that out in the world, is a great privilege and a great calling. And as image bearers we are not only called to glorify and magnify the Lord in all we do, but we are called to view ourselves and view others in the same way that God views us.

Being an image-bearer is our greatest calling. It’s a call to an ever-deeper relationship with our Creator. As humans, we have the unique capacity to know God and to have relationship with Him. A relationship that we are called to delve deeper into with each passing day. A relationship that is based on so much more than just knowledge, but on a heart who fully trusts His promises and seeks to live by them. It’s a call to reflect Him. Mankind has the unique capacity to reflect God like nothing else in all creation. Though our sin defaces us, we were originally created to see God Himself in each other. We are created to reflect God’s love, truth, and holiness into this world as we seek to be good stewards of all that God has given us- reflecting His character in all that we say and do. We are called daily to our God-reflecting abilities. It’s a call to an ongoing journey of becoming more like Him and less like ourselves.

It’s a calling to see worth, value, and dignity in every human, no matter how sinful or distorted or far from God they may seem. It’s a calling to see worth value, and dignity in yourself. It’s a daily reminder to look at our lives through the eyes of God and to see how really and truly loved and treasured we are. It’s a command to love the unlovable, not because of who they are or what they have done, but because of who He is and how He made and loved them. When we look at ourselves through the eyes of God and recognize our calling to bear His image and to look at others as created in His image, there is suddenly enough love and grace to go around. Because when we strip it all down to the core, when we take it all back and we look to the very beginning- we are all equal, not less than, but just enough. And we are enough because we are in Him. Every single one of us. Including you.