We as a society have been focused on COVID-19 for the past four months and currently we are focused on racism because of the riots that have erupted in response to the murder of a black man by a white police officer. These events sparked my thinking about what is means to be a part of the the human race while looking at my image in the mirror one morning.
The Latin word for image of God is Imago Dei. There are a few ways we can talk about an image: We might say that a picture is an image of my Father, or upon reading a book we might say the image sprung from the paper, or we can use imagery to describe something, like how the tree bark was rough against his skin. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1: 26-27 that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them”.
An article from Focus on the Family reads: “The imago Dei or image of God, is not so much something humankind has as something that humankind is. Humankind was created to be the visible part of God and a representative of who God is and what he is like. When humankind fell into sin, it did not destroy the image of God, rather sin disfigured it. Humankind became a corrupt image of God’s holiness, his intellect, his speech, and his desire for relationship. However, humankind cannot lose the image of God, because without it humankind could not be what it is and because without the image of God, Jesus Christ would not have needed to die for us”.
As we seek to be the image of God, Colossians 3:10 reminds us to “put on the new self, which is being renewed after the image of its creator”. With all of humankind, no matter how marred is his or her imago dei, he or she is still loved by God and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect no matter their age, race, social status or disability.
As image-bearers of God, we need to love one another as God loves us. As believers, we need to stand up, united in the image of God and spread his gospel to the world.
May you be living joyfully in the image of God in the coming days.
Chaplain Val
