By Caro October 11, 2024
Usually, when we quote a verse in Genesis in a conference about relationships, it’s Genesis 2:18 because it talks about marriage. However, there is an even more important part of our essence before marriage: we have been created in God’s image.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26 and 27 NKJV). We are all created to be His image, no matter our social status. That is the core part of our being, our main destiny, our greatest calling.
No matter our bank account, our size, or our age, we are His reflection. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). In this verse, it mentions that we are “transformed”, because we do need to go back to the first state we had been created to be. With sin entering the world in the Garden of Eden, the mirror reflection of God, us, has been dirtied. That’s why the verse here says we need the Holy Spirit to work in us and make us clean again. It’s a huge responsibility because, to some people, we will be the only image of God they will ever see. And let’s admit it: becoming a good reflection of God also makes us much easier to live with, which is very useful for Christians who are dating!
Letting the Holy Spirit clean our mirror will take effort on our part because we will need to refuse to follow the desires of the flesh. It might feel like it’s a loss sometimes, but that is just a lie from the enemy because we were meant to be God’s reflection, which means we will feel whole and at peace only when we are doing what we were created for. If we use a TV remote to stir a soup, we will break the remote and make the soup inedible because the TV remote wasn’t created for that. We need to use a wooden spoon. Only when we are doing what we were created for can we be truly happy.
There is another reason why God wants us to be His reflection, and it’s to protect us. “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16 NKJV). When we are a clean mirror and reflect God, if people say bad things about us, God says that He takes it on Himself. Being His image transfers the hurt we get to God, and He always defends His image. In this thought, let us also be careful in the way we treat others: because if we hurt someone with our words and actions, we are doing so to God’s image.
Finally, we need to remember that we have been created in the image of God, which also means that we are only His image, we are not God. He has no limits, be we do. Let’s not take more on our shoulders than what God is asking of us. As an image, we are completely dependent on God. Let’s follow Him, letting Him heal our cracked mirror, clean our dirty mirror, and use us to reflect His glory. Because that is what we have been created for.