Created in the image of God

In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, ‘Let there be light’ and light appeared. (verses 1-3)

Read Genesis 1:1 – 2:3

What a pity that this wonderful story of creation has been the cause of so many arguments, not just between some Christians and the world of science, but also between Christians themselves.

This story clearly establishes human beings as the pinnacle of God’s creation. Made in a unique way to have a unique relationship with God, made in God’s very image (and hasn’t that caused some disagreements among theologians trying to work out what it means), human beings were created to be God’s friends. Psalm 8 beautifully describes human status:

When I look at the sky, which you have made,
at the moon and stars, which you set in their places­ –
what are human beings, that you think of them;
mere mortals, that you care for them?
Yet you have made them inferior only to yourself.

How foolish we are, when we occupy the ‘top spot’ in God’s creation, that we turn to things – things created less than us by God – to put our trust in. Pagans of the past literally made images of gods in the form of idols; more sophisticated moderns try to create gods in human image. Either way, we demean what God created us to be.

Father, you have made me a unique creature, very special to you. Help me to believe it and to live as one who believes it. Amen.

by Robert Turnbull, in ‘God’s Promises for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1999)

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