“what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honour. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
Psalm 8:4-8 NLT
David wrote that human beings are entrusted with the care of all that God has made. If we read Genesis 1 we find just that mission in verse 26. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’”. We also find from this verse that God created mankind in His image. But when we look around us and see the unlimited and infinite extent of God’s creation, and all made from nothing by the way, we wonder what being made in God’s image really means. In so many ways, mankind is no different from the other created animals around us. We are of a family of mammals, that produce living young. We are bounded by constraints imposed by our physical abilities. Although we have a much enhanced mental capacity, when compared with other animals, there are still limits. God has no boundaries, either with who He is, or what He can do.
According to Genesis, human beings are supposed to be caring for the rest of God’s creation, but looking around us we see a world abused and even destroyed in places by man’s selfish ambitions. Sin has corrupted the very essence of God’s plans and left us a long way from what should have been. And then God is Spirit, exposing another difference. But we do have to accept that we are in part a reflection of God in our moral and mental capacities. For example, God loves us, and we can love others. God is righteous and we can make righteous choices. God is caring and compassionate and we can look at our families and neighbours, our hospitals and charities, and be caring and compassionate people.
We read Genesis 1:26, and see a very significant word – “our”. Mankind was made by our plural God, and in Genesis 2:18 we read, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him””. With the advent of Eve, and the concept of marriage we continue to be socially reflecting God in His image.
Sin, introduced in Genesis 3, marred what God intended for those created “in His image” and corrupted both mankind and God’s creation, which, as we read in Romans 8:22 is struggling under the weight of sin. “For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”. But God had a plan of redemption for human beings through Jesus and we read about this in Ephesians 4:24, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. By choice, and thanks to Jesus, we are able to return to what God originally intended. What a gracious God we serve! In spite of our rebellion and sin, He still reaches out to us with love and grace, with mercy and compassion, and we can still function “in His image” if we so choose.
Dear Father God. Please help us to make right choices in our lives and put us on the path to return to the state You originally intended for us, in Your image. Please forgive us for our sins we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 