Image of God

I often think about how the Bible describes the creation of man. In fact, since I've had children I think about it more and more.

The Bible says, "And God created man in his own image: in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

Because we often associate the word "image" with what we see with our eyes, a common sense interpretation of this would be that God made man to look like Him. But, the Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and I definitely don't look like a Spirit so it must mean something else entirely.

Since I've had children, God has really been teaching me what it means to be created in His image. In fact, I now believe He intends for us to understand this through the raising of our own children. It's through this relational interpretation of the "Image of God" that we start understanding things like the essence of love, selflessness, commitment, patience, rebellion, discipline, forgiveness and true joy. Since my two boys have been born, those words have taken on whole new meanings. I honestly don't think I understood words like selflessness and joy until I had children of my own. Now, those are more than words - those words actually hold memories for me.

Since I've had children I've come to understand that my children's relationship with me is a reflection of my relationship with Jesus. In this way, I am made as a reflection (or image) of God. God's intellect, will, emotion and relational attributes are reflected off of me and onto my children. I am therefore a reflection of God to my children - an image of God.

This is both inspiring and scary for me. Inspiring because I'm reflecting God's character to my children; and it's scary for the same reason. If I'm walking closely with Jesus, God's image becomes clearer for my children. If I turn away from Jesus, that image is obscured.

Lord, may the fruit of your Spirit, your true character, be evident in my life. May my life closely resemble your image for my children.