Living Reflections
READ
Today’s verse is often leveraged to fuel divisive debates over gender and sexuality. However, if we only focus on how this verse informs our political opinions, we can miss out on the crucial, perspective-altering Truth embedded within it. Our verse today reminds us that all human beings are made in the image of God—a Truth that should radically alter how we view ourselves and those around us.
Let’s take a moment to read Genesis 1:27:
“So God created mankind in His own image,
in the image of God He created them;
male and female He created them.”
REFLECT
Great artists and musicians are often the most proud of the work that embodies who they are, that reflects their very soul. God, the Master Artist, is no exception. Of all the beautiful and glorious things He’s made, He calls us His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). We are His living, breathing self-portraits. We reflect His loveliness in a way nothing else on earth ever has or ever will.
This fact comes with a sobering realization. Whenever we criticize others—or the person in the mirror—we are disparaging God’s proudest work. Whenever we mistreat someone, we are harming God’s child, someone who closely resembles their Father.
Every human being is a living reflection of the Most High. Because of this, we must dignify and honor every person we encounter. Whenever we meet someone, we come into contact with a person who God was pleased to endow with His beauty and likeness. In every interaction, we engage with someone whose mere existence reveals God’s expert craftsmanship and divine love.
Viewing others as God’s image-bearers should radically reorient how we treat them. Even those we believe to have the ugliest of hearts still possess God’s awe-inspiring beauty. There is goodness to be found in everyone, because God has impressed His image on all of us. We need to approach every human being with holy reverence, remembering that our friends and enemies alike bear a resemblance to Christ Himself.
This truth should also transform how we view ourselves. When we bully ourselves, we are insulting God’s finest work. Every facet of our being—physical, mental, and spiritual—bears the mark of our Creator.
Our identity as image-bearers comes with another profound responsibility. When we attach our name, signature, or likeness to something, we want it to represent us accurately. It’s easy to imagine that God feels the same way. He wants us to mirror His sacrificial love and radical generosity with the way that we live. While we already bear His image, regardless of our religious performance, our love for God and others should compel us to reflect Him more faithfully. In doing so, we allow the world to glimpse His glory through us.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
Who do you struggle to see as someone who bears God’s image? How would it change how you treat them if you remembered they are a living reflection of God?
How can you more faithfully reflect God with your words and actions today?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Most Holy God, thank You for making me and all of mankind in Your image. Thank You for reminding me of the beauty and value we all possess. Help me to treat myself and others with honor and reverence, always remembering that we are Your image-bearers. You’ve made us to be like You, to act like You, to love like You. God, empower me to live in such a way that reflects Your character, so that Your image would be more clearly seen in me. In Your Son’s Name we pray, Amen.
Port City writer Kate Redenbaugh wrote today’s devotional.