Your Identity Is About Bearing His Image

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Catey Stover in Freedom Fighters

“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.” – Genesis 1:26 (NKJV)

 

By the time you read this you probably already know that the SCOTUS overturned Roe vs. Wade. I ain’t gonna get all kinds of political with their decision but I will say this, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). I don’t think there is much on the subject after God said that. I mean, if you’re looking for an exception go read the list yourself, but, Spoiler Alert, the next line after that is, “You shall not commit adultery”, and here’s another spoiler alert, there aren’t any groups storming the Supreme Court for them to enact a constitutional right to commit it. Just throwin’ that out there. Anyway…

 

There’s a couple of “You shall not’s” after that but you do get my drift, right? Besides, I find it so absurdly ironic that those who say they are protecting people’s right to live life ANYWAY they want are the same ones who would fight for the right to extinguish it before it has a chance to flourish. I also wanna be clear on this, when it comes to the discussion on what group do I identify with in this moment, I ain’t an American Christian. I’m a Christian who lives in America, big difference. How so, you ask? Well, good question, for that to be answered turn to Genesis 1:26-28 and read it for yourself. There isn’t any other identity mentioned in this passage of Scripture.

 

The main crux of it all resides in this statement, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” We were afforded this before Christ came to reconcile the Creation with the Creator by showing us the example of what it looks like to be an image-bearer of the Creator. I like how Paul Tripp puts it… “The value, uniqueness, significance, and inviolability of every person who has ever lived is found only in the words, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” This means that no human being, no matter who he or she is, should be devalued, desecrated, infringed upon, oppressed, dealt personal harm, neglected, rejected, or destroyed, because every person carries the image of the Creator.”

 

I spent all of my youth trying to find an identity that would fit in with any place that I was surrounded by. As I grew, that identity-crisis brought no glory to God and totally dishonored Him in ways that shoulda sent me straight to hell but that’s not how the Creator work, is it? As I came to understand the importance of the first two chapters of Genesis in the terms of image-bearer, I realized whose I am. Now that’s how the Creator works. When I make a pot of my infamous 3-meat chili (with a splash of ghost pepper extract) it has to say, “That chili is good, and Chris made it”. It’s the same thing when God makes us (without the ghost pepper extract, of course). My image should say I’m good because the God of the Universe made me and His seal of approval is upon me for all to see.

 

When we start messin’ around with our identities, outside of the way we were designed to be, there ain’t nothing but calamity for us. To quote Tripp again, “It is vital to understand that a stable sense of identity, and along with basic human value and worth, can only ever be found vertically. You know who you are by first looking to creation and second to the cross.” Folks may be good with looking to the creation, because we, a fallen people, can see its beauty but the cross?? Yeah, some folks can’t see the beauty in it and decide a different identity away from being an image-bearer is more suitable living. After all, why should we die because of sin, didn’t Jesus do that for us?

 

So much of society today drowns in its own identity-crisis because it can’t accept the narrow path to The Cross. So, the path has to be discredited by a rewrite of Creation, that causes confusion, and leaves people lost in their own identity-crisis…sad, but true. However, we’re called, as His image-bearer, to understand ourselves so we, love our neighbor as ourselves. This means you’ll treat the life of others with dignity and value, somewhere in all that is prefect love…and that does not murder because “Thou Shalt Not” takes on a different meaning. We don’t need the SCOTUS to figure that out for us. That was solved for us in the beginning because God Created. Amen?

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a husband, a father, has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can e-mail him at cphughes515@verizon.net


Think About This: “So many of the problems of human culture are the result of the depersonalization of the individual. Nothing good ever comes out of forgetting or denying the holy worth of every person, stamped on them by the Creator.” – Paul David Tripp

The Daily Bible Reading: Job 16-18Acts 9:1-22| You can download our 2022 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here. 

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” – 1 John 4:9

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