Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
For those of us who grew up in The Church, we basically grew up to the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the World, that He gave his one and only son…” These words are something that most of us can repeat in our sleep, but God’s deep love for us goes back way farther than that. During the six days of the creation of The World, we see everything being thoroughly thought through from what swims in the depths of the oceans to what flies in the skies. He was like a painter, carefully placing the colors on the canvas for others to admire and find joy in. We are the ones who get the amazing opportunity to look at the painting without even having to pay admission to the gallery. Everything in this world was perfectly crafted, including us.
We were made in the image of God; we were made in the image of God from the dust on the ground. Thinking about being made in the image of God has always been able to motivate me to do things that seem challenging, because I know that I am capable of much more than it can seem at times. Thinking about being made from the dust from the ground seems to be able to have the ability to ground me (pun intended). While I know that I have the ability to do many things, I can also remember that when I stumble and struggle, I am only human and I make mistakes, but those mistakes are what help me grow and reach my full potential.
We were also given the task to watch over all of the things that were made before us. The task has seemed to become quite the challenge in recent history, but it shows a great trust in us from the very beginning. He handed us the creation that He spent much time and effort on and said “Here. Take care of it. I made you in my image, you can take it from here.” God trusts us with a lot because He made us in His image. I can personally have a hard time remembering that sometimes, so I can imagine that you may struggle with it too. While our bodies were made from the dust and will return to dust after our time on Earth, our souls have been made to serve a much larger purpose that is an extension of God’s work.