Image Bearers - Day 3
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2
God is secure in who He is. He is not threatened by our anatomy. Only God, who is perfect in all His ways, could create us in His image. We human beings are uniquely created by God as His image bearers. Let’s consider what that means as to the mind, will, and emotions. God is a relational being who thinks and reasons. He gave us the same ability - to reason and to think. With our minds we are able to communicate, understand, and grow in a love relationship with God. Even though we could never grow to be childlike in our understanding in comparison to God, He created us with the ability to relate to Him in a rational way.
God created us with emotions that give meaning to life. God wants us to experience emotions too, such as pleasure, grief, contentment, anxiety, love and hate. God knows emotion, so He chose to create us as emotional creatures. He wants us to be able to respond to him with true feelings. Why? Because He loves us. He made us real, live feeling people. His desire for us is that we respond to His love with love.
God also created us with a will. God makes choices of His own, and He chose to create us with a will. God made many choices in His creation, deciding what creatures looked like, smelled like, sounded like, and acted like. God didn’t have to give us a choice. He could have just as easily made us to do only what He programmed us to do. Think about it: can a relationship take place without choice by both parties? No. Without choice there is no love. Without choice there could be no relationship. We would only be automatons following prescribed behavior without meaning or intention.
Praise God He places such a love on us. Because of His love, He gave us a mind to think and understand and relate and communicate with God and others. He gave us emotions so we can grow our loving relationship with Himself. And He gave us our own will so we can be real, accountable, responsible, and intentional moral agents free to choose to obey God or not, which is sin. That is the perfect strength of God’s love. He is secure in who He is. Only by His perfect love could He create us with such an ability; our own minds, will and emotions.
“Thank you, Father, for creating me the way you chose to. I surrender my mind, will and emotions to you, because I love you! Amen.”
