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Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” …So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. —Genesis 1:26-27, NIV
These words of creation joyfully bounce around in my brain. Six days of wonder out of that formless void of nothingness were capped by the summum bonum of God—man in his own image. I have to confess though, last summer when the Womenary professor, Daniel David, drilled down on the concept of being the image-bearer of God, I had never put the words image and bearer together in the same sentence. I was overwhelmed, honored, and petrified all at once.
Yet, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Created in the image of God, my ultimate purpose is to image God to the watching world. Now that I think about it, Scripture is loaded with the concept of image-bearing. Take David for instance, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22, NIV)—well, most of the time. What about Daniel and his buddies Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, “all willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28, NIV)? And Paul, when he finally got it: when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15-16, NIV). I could go on.
What a privilege, to be endowed with the potential of the very qualities of God. And so we look to Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians1:15, NIV), to know what the image of God is like. In New Testament times, image—eikon—meant a likeness on a coin, a portrait, or a statue. The incarnate Jesus was stamped all over with the likeness of the Father. The good news is, you too were stamped internally with that image on Golgotha. Put your faith in Jesus and the new self (in you) …is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:10, NIV).
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to— the rock from which you were cut…the quarry from which you were hewn.” —Isaiah 51:1, NIV
My summer’s listening to Womenary online coincided with a visit to Butchart gardens in Victoria BC. In 1904, Jennie Butchart took upon herself the task of beautifying the depleted limestone quarry that had supplied her husband’s nearby cement plant. It took horse cart after horse cart to drag in topsoil. Tall mounds of rock were stacked in terraces for flower beds. And it is rumored that Mrs. Butchart dangled over the sides to tuck ivy in every conceivable crevice, all because she loved flowers. As I stood next to the stone wall and peered down into the Sunken Garden I was reminded of the essential nature of my foundation.
Since the image of Jesus—the rock from which you were cut…the quarry from which you were hewn—is planted in you, if you earnestly pursue righteousness, you will seekthe LORD. The image of the Creator will then begin to bloom on you. Rest assured the Spirit will gladly tuck love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22, NIV) into the crevices of your heart, seeding Jesus on your rockface for all to see—just because the Father loves you.
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. —Hebrews 12:14-15, NIV
How best to bloom where God planted me? Wandering along the rocky paths of Butchart’s sunken garden amongst the annuals, flowering trees, and sculptured shrubs, I realized there was not a single dead bloom nor weed in sight. As an image-bearer in God’s garden, I am to live in peace with all men. I need to yank out my bad attitudes by the roots before they poison the peace between us. I am reminded, peace is a fruit of the Spirit. I look to the Spirit for insight whenever I grab my gardening tools for an attitude adjustment.
And to be holy? Now that’s the delicate blossom of image-bearing. In Christ you are justified, sanctified, righteous, pure—you are holy. But does holiness bloom on you? Or do the weeds of the world crowd out the image of Jesus? Consider how crucial it is to be weed free—without holiness no one will see the Lord.
How can anything so difficult be accomplished? By allowing the Master Gardener to tend to you: In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life (James 1:21, MSG). The Word, Jesus, is already in you. Spend time with Him: humbly accept the word implanted in you (James 1:21, NIV). Draw on the Spirit’s insight. The idea is to have everyone who visits your garden see Jesus in your blossoms.
Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. —2 Corinthians 2:14, NIV
We image-bearers are to be about the task assigned to us of bringing people to Jesus, who is not wantinganyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And the bonus: we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness, with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV).
Nancy Paul
Nancy Paul is Canadian born and bred but happily settled in Texas. She is married, mother of two, and grandmother of three busy boys. A long time Womenary student, she loves to read, is a lover of God's word and a wannabe writer. Nancy is a regular contributor to encouraging.com, a collection of blog articles regularly published by the women of Green Acres Baptist Church of Tyler. As well, she is the women's Bible study coordinator at GABC. 
