“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’”
Genesis 1:27-28a (NLT)
Humans were made in his image from the very beginning. Our first command was to be fruitful and multiply. We are supposed to bear and spread God’s image. Not physically either. Later in scripture, Paul says that ”Christ is the visible image of the invisible God (Col 1:15).” God is invisible. When he created mankind in his image, he did it in an immaterial way. Neither our skin color, gender, race or any other physical aspect doesn’t disqualify us from being an image bearer. Furthermore, neurodiversity doesn’t keep us from being in God’s image. Whether we have ADHD, autism, depression, bipolar disorder, Down Syndrome, or anything else…it’s not about our body or mind; it’s about our spirit.
Part of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians says, ”so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit (being fruitful) in every good work and increasing (multiplying) in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10).” The bolded parenthesis are mine. I never made this connection until I was reading the Complete Jewish Bible version in the Bible app. It immediately took my mind to Genesis and our original purpose.
A small but significant miracle in my life is that Kayla, my adopted AuDHD daughter, looks a whole lot like me. When she was a baby, she was the spitting image of my dad. Everyone was constantly telling me they would have no clue Kayla was adopted just by looking at her.
Kayla acts like me too. Sometimes she acts like her dad. Sometimes I even see grandma and papa in her behaviors. She is definitely in our image. But why? With her, it’s clearly not nature. It’s nurture.
We naturally reflect what we see.
Kayla has spent her whole life saturated in ours. She’s watched, mimicked and learned her behaviors and attitudes from the people she’s been around and gotten to know deeply. Yes, her autistic behaviors don’t reflect mine, but her anxiety does. I have anxiety too. Her ADHD doesn’t look like us, but her depression does. I suffer with depression. All in all, Kayla is her own unique self. But she’s shaped by her experiences and by those closest to her.
This isn’t always a good thing. As I’ve aged, my mouth has turned into a filthy sailer (no offense, Navy servers out there). I shouldn’t be surprised that my daughter has started to cuss as well. Then there’s the whole adult vs child discussion, but it really bothers her when she hears me say bad words (especially since she can’t), so I’ve started to work harder on what comes out of my mouth.
How do we successfully live in his image?
To fully be in his image, we must soak in his Word and the life of Christ. Jesus is our example of God’s perfect image bearer. So perfect that he was the only one qualified to die for us so that we could be covered by his perfection. Humanity took our purpose and smashed it under our toes. Yet God still loved us enough to send Christ.
Wow. Just…wow.
To learn how to bear and spread God’s image, we simply look at our children. How do they bear and spread our likeness? By being raised by us. We saturate their little lives and, although they grow to be their own person, they ultimately bear our image. Likewise, the more we study scripture, the more we get to know the God we are supposed to represent, the more we meditate and think on God’s Word, the more we transform. Let God raise you. Just like a child imitating her parents, we will imitate our Father.
What does this look like?
To answer that, we look at Christ’s life. There are many examples, but I think they are summed by three categories:
- Serve—Christ humbled himself by serving others.
- Obey—Christ ALWAYS said and did exactly as the Father wanted him to.
- Forgive—This is the hardest for some, but the ultimate image of God is letting go of bitterness and forgiving others who have hurt us.
Let’s dip our kids in God’s Word until they are so saturated, they can’t help but be imitators of Christ. And while we’re at it, let’s bear God’s image as well, so when they copy us, they copy God.
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