1.2 What Does it Mean To Be Made in God’s Image?

It houses over 38000 historical objects that date from ancient history to the 21st century. And they are exhibited over an area of 72000 square meters, that's like 13 football fields. Wow. But out of these 38000 objects, there's one item above all others that everyone comes to see The Mona Lisa. Mona is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as the best known and the most written about work of art in the world. Students from every corner of the globe spend hours studying every brush stroke and line. Millions marvel at her smile and ponder the origins of Mona. And although there are several billion copies in the world nothing compares to seeing the real deal. Mona Lisa is the masterpiece of masterpieces in the Louvre museum. Now, imagine that the world around us is God's museum. God is displaying all of his incredible works of art. The mountains, the planets, and the stars. Well, the masterpiece at the center of all these masterpieces is you. It's you and it's me, The Bible says that 'We are God's masterpiece.' (Ephesians 2:10) If we look at the story of God's creation of the world from the first book of the Bible called Genesis, we see that for every act of creation God announced that it was good (Gen 1) but it's only after God creates human beings that he says that it's very good. It's as if God was saying that creation was now complete. If we come to the conclusion that this world is not the result of random chance but the act of a loving creator then you'll begin to see that the beauty and goodness around us is God's expression of love for us. Think of it this way, we're the headline act of God's creation. In Genesis 1:26, it says, 'Let us make people in our image.' These little words 'us' and 'our' are extremely important because they show us who God is because God is three in one 'Father, Son, and Holy Spirit', we know that God is relational. This relational God desires to love us and to know us intimately and this is what it means to be made in God's image. Our desire for love, acceptance, belonging and our potential to do incredible good in this world all reflects the God who made us. We are not pre-programmed machines but we are free to live and make decisions and above all other created things we are uniquely valuable to God. One of the main differences between us and all other life is the way that we relate to God and to the people around us. God did not create us and then abandon us, instead, he invites us to live in relationship with him. One of my favorite parts of the Bible from a book called the Psalms helps us to understand this. In Psalm 139 the writer says, 'Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and you know everything about me.' That's right everything. Now that might scare you but the writer is going to great lengths to show just how much God cares about us and how much he's interested in us despite the parts you don't want him to see. Later it says, 'You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. I thank you for making me so wonderfully complex, your workmanship is marvelous.' I love this because it affirms how unique every individual is to God. He didn't just put us together on some cold assembly line, instead, he purposely wove us together with his own hands. Every personality quirk, every talent, every little detail was gifted to us by our loving maker. And what about these words. It says, 'How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered.' Think about it this way, the same God who put the galaxies in the sky, who flung the planets into orbit, who filled the untamed oceans and crafted the tallest mountains is thinking about you his masterpiece.