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The Original Image
As human beings, we are so immersed in sin that we often can forget just how bad it is, just how much it has affected us. It is not easy to realize how far we have fallen, because we have been down for so long.
Read Genesis 1:27. How does the fact that Jesus Himself is God help us understand better what it means to have been made in the image of God? How does knowing about Jesus help us understand the kind of characters our first parents had at the creation?
The Bible is clear: we were made in the image of God. It is clear, too, that Jesus is God (see John 1:1–3). Thus, in the beginning, humans reflected somewhat the moral character of Jesus. The Jesus who loved us so much that He stooped down and took on our humanity in order to save us— that is what humans were originally like. The Jesus who was willing to minister to others by washing the feet of His betrayer—that is what humans were somewhat like. The Jesus who, even while dying on the cross, took time to comfort the dying thief—that is what humans were like. The Jesus who cried out—“Father, forgive them because they know not what they do,”—that is what humans were to some degree like before sin entered.
The unselfish love and concern for others that marked Jesus’ life also must have been reflected to some degree in Adam and Eve before the Fall, who were from creation made “in the image of God.”
Hence, the idea of being like Jesus means being remade into the image in which we were originally created. And it is obvious from looking at Jesus, from seeing how He lived and how He treated people and how He loved even His enemies, that at the heart of Christ’s character was unselfish love for others. As humans, then, we originally were made to love and care unselfishly for those who were around us. That is certainly part of what it means to have been made in the image of God.
We were made, therefore, to love and to be loved, and this we cannot do in a vacuum. We need people to love, just as people need to be loved. This is what community and family are all about.
Dwell more on this idea about what it means to have been made in the image of God and that Jesus is God. How does this fact help us understand just how fallen we are and how much we need a Savior? More so, how should this help us understand why we need to treat people better than we often do?
| SUNDAY | June 20 |
As human beings, we are so immersed in sin that we often can forget just how bad it is, just how much it has affected us. It is not easy to realize how far we have fallen, because we have been down for so long.
Read Genesis 1:27. How does the fact that Jesus Himself is God help us understand better what it means to have been made in the image of God? How does knowing about Jesus help us understand the kind of characters our first parents had at the creation?
The Bible is clear: we were made in the image of God. It is clear, too, that Jesus is God (see John 1:1–3). Thus, in the beginning, humans reflected somewhat the moral character of Jesus. The Jesus who loved us so much that He stooped down and took on our humanity in order to save us— that is what humans were originally like. The Jesus who was willing to minister to others by washing the feet of His betrayer—that is what humans were somewhat like. The Jesus who, even while dying on the cross, took time to comfort the dying thief—that is what humans were like. The Jesus who cried out—“Father, forgive them because they know not what they do,”—that is what humans were to some degree like before sin entered.
The unselfish love and concern for others that marked Jesus’ life also must have been reflected to some degree in Adam and Eve before the Fall, who were from creation made “in the image of God.”
Hence, the idea of being like Jesus means being remade into the image in which we were originally created. And it is obvious from looking at Jesus, from seeing how He lived and how He treated people and how He loved even His enemies, that at the heart of Christ’s character was unselfish love for others. As humans, then, we originally were made to love and care unselfishly for those who were around us. That is certainly part of what it means to have been made in the image of God.
We were made, therefore, to love and to be loved, and this we cannot do in a vacuum. We need people to love, just as people need to be loved. This is what community and family are all about.
Dwell more on this idea about what it means to have been made in the image of God and that Jesus is God. How does this fact help us understand just how fallen we are and how much we need a Savior? More so, how should this help us understand why we need to treat people better than we often do?
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