The Imago Dei

You and I bear the likeness of our Heavenly Father. We are his spitting image! Though the Imago Dei might be tainted by sin, beneath the dents, scratches and rust is the very likeness of a loving, caring Father. Thank God, through Jesus, we have been, are being, and will be fully restored to the image of the One who created us to be like himself.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 5:1,3

“When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself…When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him—in his very image.”

One of the greatest joys in life for me has been to have children that bear the likeness of my wife and me. Adding to that joy is having grandchildren who continue that likeness to generations beyond.

There is something deeply satisfying to know that, looking backward, I am connected to my father’s fathers, and looking forward, to know that I am living on in the generations to come. “In his likeness” is both an unstoppable force and a powerful gift of the Creator…the ability to procreate.

Most wonderful of all is to know that I bear the likeness of my Heavenly Father. I am his spitting image! So are you. Though the Imago Dei might be tainted by sin, beneath the dents, scratches and rust is the very likeness of a loving, caring Father.

Thank God, through Jesus, I have been, am being and will be fully restored to the image of the One who created me to be like himself. Really! That’s what John the Beloved said in his first epistle:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And everyone that hath this hope in him puries himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3)

Thank God for his love, and for the divine image inextricably embedded in my DNA. Just as I can never stop loving my children and grandchild because they are a part of me, God can never stop loving me. I am a part of him and he is a part of me.