What Does it Mean to Be in the Image of God?

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered what God sees in you? Through His eyes, He sees someone and something different from the you that you criticise as you stare at your reflection. For some of us the mirror is the place where we see shame, feel failure or compare ourselves to the perfect and the pretty. As we look at ourselves in the mirror, do we see who God sees at all? Why is it that we find it hard to believe that we can be loved, can be beautiful, can be all the other things the bible tells us God feels for us. Our mirror is tarnished. Our lives are tainted by the brush of all the things we have done or haven’t done that were not pleasing to God and did not bring Him honour or Glory. The mirror of the world is lacking. We act in ways that are displeasing to God and treat each other poorly. The world is a reflection of this. God’s mirror is different. His mirror sees us as we are and as we are becoming in Him. His mirror reflects His love for us and for His people. Those who know Him and those who have yet to get to know Him. The different in the mirrors is the source of the reflection.

God’s mirror is never lacking. His mirror is always more. More love, more grace, more forgiveness, more strength than we thought we could ever have, more mercy than we deserve. In God’s mirror we are more. Through God’s mirror we are more loving, more compassionate, more giving, more available. What we set our eyes on determines the direction of our steps.

Jesus came to show us how to live as a reflection of God’s love for us. He is the true reflection of the love of God. He knows how hard it is to be human and to deal with the stuff we deal with, yet He knows the way we are to live and is waiting to show us if we seek Him.

What we reflect to others determine what others see of God in our lives. What we reflect should be different from the mirror of the world for in Christ we are different. What our reflection says about God in us will have others wanting to know what is different about us, why we are different and who is it that makes us different. Should not our picture be one that shows the world the God we know, the God that is love, that is life. It all starts with our mirror. What mirror are you looking through today? What is it that you are you reflecting to those around you?

For Discussion:

What mirror are you looking through today?

Where do we find God’s mirror?

What mirror are your kids and family members looking through?

How can we keep our focus right?

How do we ensure we are looking through and reflecting God’s mirror view this week?

How do we help others to do this?

Take Home:

Shine a light on your mirror view this week. Spend some time looking through God’s mirror view and reflect who you are becoming in Him.

Lastly:

Psalm 139:1-4

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.