Made in the Image of God
by Stephen Painter
Genesis
1:27-31:
in
the image of God he created him;
male
and female he created them.
And God
blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is
on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall
have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the
heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the
breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And
there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
 |
| Peak of San Juan Mountain |
After five days of God considering his
creation good (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25), God created something that made it
all very good. He created us. He created the first man and the first woman. It
doesn't matter that they were black, white, red, or blue. They were made in His
image, and they were the piece that made Him consider His creation very good.
How is it that God created the heavens, the mountains, the seas, the plants,
and the animals, yet only called it very good after creating us? This is the
question I pondered this past Wednesday on the peak of a San Juan mountain in
the Colorado Rockies.
 |
| Mercy Street Interns and Guides |
Fourteen of us from Mercy Street spent the
past week in Colorado on an exposure trip for second-year junior interns. This
was an Adventure trip through Sky Ranch at Ute Trail. We split up into two
groups by gender and rotated half of the week kayaking and half of it
backpacking. This was sweet time shared in fellowship together with our Father
and each other, and it was filled with challenges ranging from hailstorms to
fatigue to being vulnerable with each other. The guys trip consisted of
kayaking Sunday afternoon until Tuesday mid-day, then switching with the girls
to begin backpacking until Friday evening. In my opinion, the most significant
moment was Wednesday morning as I and eight brothers reached the peak of the
Powderhorn Trail mountain. Our guides, Ron and Zach, took us to Genesis 1 for a
peak day devotional. We discussed the beauty of the mountains before us, then
contemplated what God meant when He created us and called creation very good.
We discussed what it means to be made in the image of God. Personally, I found
that this dialogue created a passion in me to understand more clearly the
innate beauty in bearing God's image. Sure, the mountains in Colorado are one
heck of a sight to see, but the greatest beauty of creation really lies in us.
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| Kayaking |
As we begin the final two weeks of the internship,
my hope and prayer is that we as senior interns begin to see the beauty of
God's image in ourselves, in each other, and in those we are ministering to.
Know also that I pray the same for you. Why do we let ourselves be blinded to
the beauty of those around us? What do we see when we look at other people? Do
we identify people by our memories together, by the things they've done, by
what others tell us, or by the fact that they are God's image-bearers? How do
we see ourselves? And finally, how does the knowledge that both us and those
around us bear the image of God change our worldview?
"The
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen." - 2 Tim.
4:22
In
Christ,
Stephen
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