I was made in the image of….

I was made in the image of….

By Rob Wiltshire

I was never very good at football.  I could never kick straight, and I would more often than not fumble marks.  Seeing as nearly every young boy plays football at school, I earnestly tried, but it wasn’t something I was ever really good at.

While I wasn’t good at playing football, I was good at imagining I was.

I remember playing with the football in our back yard pretending I was in the AFL.  In my imagination I was always the star player who would win the game for the team.  I remember at times marking the ball — yes I kicked it to myself, and then playing on dashing towards the goals only to completely miss — due to with my poor accuracy, and then devising a way to somehow get the ball back from the opposing ‘invisible’ team to go for goal again.

Yes, I had a vivid imagination.

As I stop and reflect on stories like this, I find it fascinating that I put myself in the winner’s circle. 

Now I’d assume I’m not the only one who did that.  I’d be under the assumption that at least most of us when we were young did just that.

Have you noticed how when children dream about what they are going to be, they never dream about being the fire-fighter who does the admin, nor the vet that manages orders.  They dream about being the hero in the story!

I don’t believe this is by mistake.  I believe this is something that has been implanted within us.  The understanding that we have been created with significance and for significance.

GENESIS 1:26-28

26 THEN GOD SAID, “LET US MAKE HUMAN BEINGS IN OUR IMAGE, TO BE LIKE US.

27 SO GOD CREATED HUMAN BEINGS IN HIS OWN IMAGE.
    IN THE IMAGE OF GOD HE CREATED THEM;
    MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM.

I think this verse explains in part the sense we have that we are somehow significant. 

In ancient times people would calve images/idols of their gods out of wood or stone and place them in their houses and temples.  The idea behind these idols wasn’t that the idol was the god they worshiped, but rather that the idol was a reflection of that god.

Here is the fascinating part.  When God created humans, he created them to be a reflection of himself here on earth.  A living, breathing, image.

An image that loves,

An image that cares,

An image that demonstrated forgiveness,

Etc.

What I am not saying is that God created us as images to be worshiped, or that we are god’s.  Rather what I am saying is that we have been designed to reflect an image of God that causes people to discover him.

So that spark of significance inside your heart, where you feel you were created for something.  You were… to reflect the image of God.

Perhaps the question to ask is; “What kind of image am I reflecting?”