Imago Dei

Imago Dei = Image of God

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Genesis 1:26

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.
Genesis 1:27

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I am going to try very hard to relay the information I learned this past weekend at the Living Proof Live event in St. Louis. Beth Moore was/is an amazing teacher and she left me craving God's word in a mighty way. I am so thankful for the loving words the Lord spoke over me through her.

Okay, back to it.

I think that it would be safe to say that we all wonder what we are doing here and what we were made for. It is an innate searching in us for the ultimate truth. The world today tells us many things. According to the world, we were made to find happiness and pleasure in every part of our lives. We were made to get ahead financially. We were made to be beautiful and turn another's eye. We were made to succeed. We were made to be important. But, these things don't fulfill...they don't satiate the deep desire in us. These worldly things fall flat and so short of the plans God has for us.

According to the Word, we are called to be image bearers of God. We were created to bear God's image. Here is the kicker. Believer or not...we all bear God's image. There is no turning away from this simple (yet so beautiful and profound) truth. The most lost person out there still bears God's image. All of mankind was created in His image. If you are a thinker, you bear God's image (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV). If you are creative, you bear God's image (Genesis 1:26-27).

Okay, so we all bear His image, but God wants us to not only bear it, but to REFLECT it. Or as Beth said, "let's bear it to wear it." We can live our whole lives, made in God's image, and never ever reflect God's image. We can spend our whole lives concerned about our own self-image and never emanate the glory of God.We can get so wrapped up in making ourselves look good that it becomes a counterfeit life...not the one intended for us by God.

Bearing God's image is a choice. It.is.a.choice. Beth said that we would never wear it by accident. It is the daily putting on of who God is in our lives. It is the daily remembrance of Christ's actions. It is the daily choice to obey God's plan for our lives.

One of the things that Beth said that really hit me was this:
"Whenever we lie (live a lie, believe a lie) we are protecting our own self-image and not reflecting God in us. This is untrue to ourselves."

I really thought about that. It seems that whenever I am tempted to lie about something or believe a lie about something, it usually stems back to wanting to protect myself. I want to protect this image I have built of who I think I am.

I know this post is crazy and mostly just a bunch of thoughts thrown out there, but I want to leave with this.

"Yielded to His Spirit, redeemed man increasingly emanates the image of God."

Oh how I desire so much to yield to the Spirit and increasingly emanate the image of God. How I so desire for God to see Himself so clearly in me....for others to see Him so clearly in me. I can only pray that I will not get so wrapped up in my own self-image that I neglect to show the image of God.

Imago Dei