Articles
Created Children in His Image
Psalm 139:13-16 explains how God carefully and lovingly knitted your soul and body piece by piece. No part of you is hidden from God because you were “fearfully and wonderfully made” by Him. (Ps. 139:14) The Hebrew words for “fearfully” and “wonderfully” are “yare” and “palah”. In the context of Psalm 139, “yare” means to be awed and “palah” means distinct. Thus verse 14 is to be read as, “I praise you, for I am awe-inspiringly and uniquely made.” God loves you and If you want your existence to be pleasing to Him, then you first need to be baptized.
1 Peter 3:21 reads, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Baptism is much more than simply submerging ourselves in water, or a symbolic act of our sins being cleansed. When a person is baptized, they pledge themselves to God and recognize that they are a beloved child created in His image. Therefore they pledge their lives to God, promising to let Him transform their entire being so that they can daily carry out His will. Think of baptism as opening the gate to God’s path of salvation, and daily living according to His principles as choosing to walk down His road.
Each person is designed by God to daily spread His love throughout the world in her or his own unique way. The two greatest commands that God wants His children to live by are in Luke 10:27, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" If you are to love God with your entire being, then you first must stop your sinful thoughts and actions. Then you have to choose to abide in Christ and act on His teachings. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Every person on this Earth is a God given neighbor that has been created in His image. Thus, God’s children should act in a righteous manner that brings glory to Him and is becoming of His image. God shows no partiality and neither should His children. The Bible teaches that when you are righteously compassionate toward your neighbor, then you are reciprocating the love God has shown you. 1 John 4:7-11 explains that God showed His love for His children by sending His son, Jesus Christ, to become a living sacrifice to redeem us from sin. Therefore, when we dedicate our lives to loving others by way of His teachings, He is glorified and the love He showed us is made complete.
With each daily decision that you make you have the choice to exemplify God’s righteous attributes. If you want to bring glory to God then Colossians 3:12-17 says to “put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
