Stamped with God’s Image
A compilation
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Every soul on earth has asked the same question: Am I somebody important? It’s easy to feel anything but important when the corporation sees you as a number, the boyfriend treats you like cattle, your ex takes your energy, or old age takes your dignity. Somebody important? Hardly.
When you struggle with that question, remember this promise of God: You were created by God, in God’s image, for God’s glory. “God spoke: ‘Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature’” (Genesis 1:26).
Embedded in these words is the most wonderful of promises: God made us to reflect the image of God. God created us to be more like him than anything else he made. He never declared, “Let us make oceans in our image” or “birds in our likeness.” The heavens above reflect the glory of God, but they are not made in the image of God. Yet we are.
To be clear, no one is God except in his or her own delusion. But everyone carries some of the communicable attributes of God. Wisdom. Love. Grace. Kindness. A longing for eternity. These are just some of the attributes that set us apart from the farm animal and suggest that we bear the fingerprints of the Divine Maker. We are made in his image and in his likeness. ...
The New Testament describes a progressive work of God to shape us into his image. As we fellowship with God, read his Word, obey his commands, and seek to understand and reflect his character, something wonderful emerges. Or better stated, Someone wonderful emerges. God comes out of us. We say things God would say. We do things God would do. We forgive, we share, and we love. …
According to the Bible, you are good simply because God made you in his image. He cherishes you because you bear a resemblance to him. … You are his. You carry a part of him. There is something of him in you. He made you in his image. He stamped his name on your heart. He breathed life into your lungs.
Someone called you a lost cause. Someone branded you as a failure. Someone dismissed you as insignificant. Don’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re talking about. A divine spark indwells you. When you say yes to God, he blows on that holy ember and it begins to flame. It grows day by day within you. Are you perfect? No. But you are being made perfect.
He bought you and owns you, and has a wild and inexplicable love for you. His love for you does not depend on you. You are God’s idea. God’s child. Created in God’s image. Would you let that truth find its way into your heart? You were conceived by God before you were conceived by your parents. You were loved in heaven before you were known on earth.—Max Lucado1
What does it mean to be made in God’s image?
From the very beginning, God’s plan has been to make you like his Son, Jesus. God announced this intention at creation: “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image and likeness’” (Genesis 1:26).
In all of creation, only human beings are made in God’s image. It’s a great privilege—and it gives you dignity. What does it mean to be made in God’s image? It’s one of those concepts that’s too big to fully understand, but here’s some of what it means:
- Like God, you are a spiritual being. Your spirit is immortal and will outlast your earthly body.
- You are intellectual. You can think, reason, and solve problems.
- You are relational. You can give and receive real love.
- You have a moral consciousness. You can discern right from wrong, which makes you accountable to God.
But there’s a problem: The image of God in you is incomplete and has been damaged and distorted by sin. So God sent Jesus on a mission to restore the full image that you—and everyone else ever born—have lost.
What does the full “image and likeness” of God look like? It looks like Jesus Christ! The Bible says: “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. … We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him” (Romans 8:29).
The Bible says Jesus is “the exact likeness of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), and “the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). …
God wants his children to bear his image and likeness. The Bible says you were “created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:24). Live like an image bearer today so that when people look at you, they’ll think of how much you’re like your heavenly Father!—Rick Warren2
Created for His glory
Scripture consistently affirms that we have been created in God’s image for His glory. … In Ephesians, we are reminded that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds (Ephesians 2:10). Whether we eat or drink or anything we do, we should be doing it for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). …
Of course, we know that in this fallen world we don’t reflect God’s image perfectly. Jesus alone was the perfect image of God. As followers of Christ, we are called to reflect Jesus’ example. Praise God that we who are in Christ are being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator (Colossians 3:10). Just as a sculptor chips away to reveal a masterpiece, our transformation to become more like Jesus is a deliberate process. Romans 12:2 encourages us to “not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
As I’ve looked into this topic, I have been incredibly encouraged, humbled, and also challenged in what it means that we are made in God’s image. This profound truth reminds us that we all have inherent worth, value, and dignity. It causes us to see that God has kindly blessed us with our capacity to think, reason, and create. It highlights to us the importance of meaningful relationships with God and others. It reminds us of our responsibility to steward God’s creation with wisdom and care. Ultimately, being created in God’s image signifies that true and lasting satisfaction can only be found in the One who formed us. As we find our satisfaction in Him and seek to follow Jesus’ example, we bring glory to God.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:36).—Emma Sunderland3
The meaning of it all
What is life all about? What am I here for? Is there a purpose, a plan for me? And if so, what is it? Questions such as these have stirred the soul and imagination of humankind throughout the ages. Regardless of our nationality, social status, ethnicity, or creed, people the world over seek the same things—ultimate truth, meaning, love, happiness, and peace of mind.
In today’s ever-changing and increasingly complex and fast-paced interconnected world, more and more people find themselves caught up in the frenzied rush to become successful or make ends meet financially. They often have little time to ponder seemingly abstract matters such as the meaning of life or the eternal destiny of their own souls.
But as the years pass, people often find that the pressures of life and trying to meet all their commitments have filled them with stress and anxiety, not peace or satisfaction. This world and all its material goods and fleeting pleasures can never answer the big questions of life. Material things may satisfy temporarily, but they can never satisfy the eternal longing of the soul for truth, purpose, and meaning.
The Bible tells us that God is a loving Father who created us in His image and loves each human being uniquely. God’s entire creation is a constant testimony not only of His existence, power, and majesty, but also of His love, concern, and care for us in giving us such a beautiful world to live in.
As the divine Creator, God is the only one who can give meaning to the universe, purpose to the planets, love to our hearts, peace to our minds, health to our bodies, rest to our spirits, and joy to our souls. God is not some faraway uninterested being. He is a God who is personal, who has a relationship with His creation. He is interested in each one of us as individuals.
Through belief in Jesus Christ, we become God’s children. He communes with us, abides in us, and loves us.—Activated
Published on Anchor September 2025. Read by Lenore Welsh. Music by John Listen.
1 Max Lucado, Unshakable Hope (Thomas Nelson, 2018).
2 Rick Warren, “What Does It Mean to Be Made in God’s Image?” PastorRick.com, September 5, 2022, https://pastorrick.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-made-in-gods-image
3 Emma Sunderland, “Created in God’s Image: What It Means and Why It Matters,” OasisChurch.com, https://oasischurch.com.au/8978-2
