Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:26-27)
After all of creation is in place, God creates someone that is like Himself. God creates humanity after the very likeness of God. The depth and breadth of this is difficult for me to fully grasp. But this is nevertheless true: I was made to be like God in relation to God. Thus, I have capacities that are similar to what God has. God is creator and so I also am a creator. I am not the creator of the universe and all that exists, but I have been given the gifts to bring forth something unique for the world around me to benefit from. I also have deep relational capacity. As God formed me for relationship with Himself, He also formed me for relationship with others. I also have cognitive and emotional capacities that far surpass what I actually employ. While we each wrestle with what this means for us personally, we can always know that there is more to me than what is on the surface.
The fact that I view myself as created in the image of God, also enables me to understand that every person around me has also been created in the image of God. And thus, each person has inherent dignity, regardless of the situation they happen to be in at any given time. Each of us are diamonds waiting to be revealed.
There is only one sin. It is the sin of forgetting our identity, our true identity of being made in the image of God for relationship with God. This sin leads us into all the other self-destructive things that we do against ourselves and those around us. We will do well to remember who we are and whose we are.
Journey to BE Still 