June 19
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (from Genesis 1:26)
When I was a kid, at Christmas time, it was a bit of a tradition to make Christmas cookies. You know the drill… make sugar cookie dough, roll it out on a flat surface, and use cookie cutters to make your cookies into various Christmas-themed treats.
This was especially fun for us kids, who took great pleasure (and care) in selecting our favorite cutter shapes, “cutting out” our own particular cookies, and decorating them with colored frosting (after they were baked, of course). In every cookie, we put just a little of ourselves – and took great pride in our work.
It strikes me that at the very heart of what it is to be human is this understanding: Our divine Creator took the time to form and shape us – and the shape He used was Himself. Just like us kids, He put a lot of Himself into what He was doing.
The real question is why??
We touched on the answer yesterday. It seems that God always wanted us to know that He was there, that He was real – and He wanted that knowledge to be with us forever. He literally made Himself a part of our DNA. He put aspects of Himself into everything we are. Clues to His existence, that could only come from Him.
Over the past few days we have been talking about evidence for God’s existence. I purposefully focused on things that are within us, that cannot be adequately explained as the effect of natural forces. Things that are distinctive to humans alone.
Things like the notion of perfection. How we dream of a perfect world where everyone treats everyone else with respect, consideration, and love – and where our hearts for each other eliminate world hunger, conflict, and strife. Perfection, peace and harmony are all characteristics of the divine Person.
Or like the sense of eternity. We just seem to know that there is life after this life. This is because God is eternal – and He has placed that sense of the eternal into every human heart – into the very core of our beings.
Or like our sense of morality. We are all intrinsically aware of what we ought to do – that there are things that are morally “right.” This comes from the holiness of God – Whose commitment to “right” and righteousness is impeccable.
Or our ability to be rational. Of all the creatures on earth, humans are the only ones to be able to think, reason, contemplate, and draw rational conclusions. We are the reflection of the very Mind of God – Who has thoughts, Who reasons, and Who makes decisions after “the counsel of His Own will.” (Ephesians 1:11)
These things are not within us by accident. They did not develop over millennia of chance occurrences. These are the personal work of a Personal God – whose proof of His Own existence was purposely placed within each of us… By His design.
So whenever we dream of perfection, or sense that there is more to life than we currently see, or we just know when something is right or wrong, or we come up with an idea that becomes some thing, or we just think about life or truth or how things ought to be… we are experiencing the effects of inside information – that could only have come from Someone Who stamped us out of His Own image.
Prayer focus: God, thank You for making ME after Your Own image and likeness.
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