On Being an Image of God

[HKHaugan]

One of the things we have been emphasizing in the Spiritual Gifts gatherings is the fact that we are, along with every other human being, created in the image of God, "(Gen.1:26-27) 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,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." So when someone comments on being God's image in a special way, someone like John Stott, it calls us to accountability and reawakening as to how much God really has invested in each of us and how He wants us to see one another and especially those around us who have no idea of the incredible worth they have in being God's creation. Follow along with what John says,

"Only Christians believe in the intrinsic worth of human beings, because of the doctrines of creation and redemption. God made man male and female in his own image and gave them a responsible dominion over the earth and its creatures. He has endowed them with unique rational, moral, social, and creative faculties, which make them like him and unlike the animals. Human beings are godlike beings! True, they are fallen from their sublime origin, and their godlikeness has been severely distorted. But it has not been destroyed. The Bible is clear on this. Christian teaching on the dignity, nobility, and worth of human beings is of the utmost importance today, partly for the sake of their own self-image and partly for the welfare of society. When human beings are devalued, everything in society goes sour. Women and children are despised; the sick are regarded as a nuisance, and the elderly as a burden; ethnic minorities are discriminated against; capitalism displays its ugliest face; labour is exploited in the mines and factories; criminals are brutalized in prison; opposition opinions are stifled; Belsen is invented by the extreme right and Gulag by the extreme left; unbelievers are left to die in their lostness; there is no freedom, dignity, or carefree joy; human life seems not worth living, because it is scarcely human any longer. But when human beings are valued, because of their intrinsic worth, everything changes: women and children are honoured; the sick are cared for and the elderly allowed to live and die with dignity; dissidents are listened to; prisoners rehabilitated, and minorities protected; workers are given a fair wage, decent working conditions, and a measure of participation in the enterprise; and the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth. Why? Because people matter, because every man, woman, and child has significance as a human person made in the image of God."
--John Stott, From 'The World's Challenge to the Church'

 

The reason we have Spiritual Gifts gatherings is to bring that emphasis of who we really are in God as the Body of Christ.  Ministering to one another in the Body grows the Body.   When the Body grows it reaches out by the very virtue of being spiritually aware of the world around us.  Then the Body pushes back the gates of hell day by day, mind by mind and heart by heart.  What we do in the world starts in the Body first.  Remember, "The light that shines farthest away shines brightest at home."   Let's grow together.  ><>Whitey