We each play a valuable, vital part within God’s redemptive plan and purpose. God places equal value on men and women. Too often this world falsely teaches that women are inferior, or this race is inferior, or this group of people is inferior. Men and women were equal in God’s original creation. The Lord treasures us!
As we focus on the creation accounts in the Book of Genesis, God’s Word reveals that male and female shared equal value in God’s original creation. Male and female, man and woman, are God’s cherished creation. We should not discount the magnitude of God’s call upon our lives. We share amazing value as God’s creation of male and female. The crowning achievement of creation is described in Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV):
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Both man and woman share creation in God’s image. It is not just the male made in God’s image for the female is made in God’s image. Genesis 5:1-2 reiterates, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them man.” Humanity has special value because male and female were created in the image, in the likeness, of God.
We are worth more than a snail, a fish, or a bird. We have more value than the groomed puppy dog upon which we spend so much time and money. We are more precious than any endangered species. Men and women are the height of earthly creation and have more worth to God than any other creature – because we carry the likeness of God.
Sin mars but cannot fully remove the singular significance of humanity created in God’s image. Theologians have argued for centuries concerning the exact characteristics that set humanity apart. The statement “image of God” is so filled with meaning.
Included in the phrase “in God’s image” is the idea that “we are like God and represent God” on the earth (Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine, 1999, p. 189). An analogy that illustrates this notion is the relationship I have with my daughters. As a parent I pass certain physical or genetic traits to my children. On the other hand, with time, love and discipline, my daughters develop inward traits that are of greater consequence than the shape of a nose or the color of eyes. In order to truly be like God and represent Him properly, the Lord intends for the development of His character within our lives.
What is God like? What are His characteristics and traits? Faithfulness, peace, forgiveness, loving-kindness are all part of His makeup. A mirror reflects the image of the person looking into it, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) points out that “We . . . all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.” Paul articulates a continuing process of transformation into His likeness. In Romans 8:29 (NIV), Paul divulges that the Lord predestined us “to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” God anticipates that we can be Godly. Representing God appropriately demands us to be reflectors of His character. We should reflect the traits of God’s love, peace, joy, and more, within our relationships.
You are God’s valued creation! Female and male can reflect God’s character!
