Own Your Image
- Dylan Reed
- Jan 22, 2019
- 6 min read
Life as an innocent child can be looked upon as great for many reasons. Children often don't see the ugliness of the world or look upon themselves as lesser value than others unless they are taught to think that way. Children don't see race, creed, religion, gender, or family status until it is something taught to them. They will make friends liberally with anyone of any age and regardless of how funny we see them dressed they are beautiful to themselves in the mirror. They won't see the mismatched clothes or the oversized shoes or even the poorly done hairstyle they chose that morning. They aren't afraid of who they are and are willing to face the world just as they are in that moment.
If children are so willing to see themselves as kings and queens, why do most men and woman of God walk around with their heads down in depression feeling like they amount to nothing in life? Why are we afraid to be proud of who we are in Christ and hold the stature of perfection with which God created us? Does God not look at us and smile regardless of how funny we think we look or how flawed we think we are and see perfection? What causes us to feel beat down with less value than the grains of sand upon the shore?
This all began in the beginning when Adam was brought forth and created from the dust of the Earth. You see before the creation of man God was surrounded by the angels whom He created, but He did not create them in the same likeness that He did with man. However, He did give them strength and beauty and assigned them jobs. All the heavens as God began to create them sung out His praise and glory. He had no need to create humans but He purposely designed us and put us exactly where we are in His image. See angels were not given the image of God, they were not given a land just for them to be fruitful and to multiply, and they were not given dominion over all the animals of the land and sky.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NLT)
See it was in that moment that God breathed the breath of life directly into man that Adam became something more special than that of the angels. See while the angels were given the purpose to praise God and to supply His covering, they were not given His image or the authority over the things of this land that was freshly brought forth. It says in Genesis chapter two that He brought forth Adam and allowed him to name all the animals and creatures of the Earth. God prepared a place for him rich with plants and fruits that he could partake of. He then also created him a companion, flesh from his flesh and bone from his bone, to keep him company and to multiply and fill the Earth.
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. 8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there He placed the man He had made. (Genesis 2:7-8 NLT)
Satan who was considered the most beautiful angel, who was the top covering for God's glory and was the praise and worship leader of heaven could see that something was different about man from all other creatures that God had created. This set the stage for a jealousy that would ultimately cause satan to be the biggest enemy of mankind. There is no man alive today that can understand the glory of God that was on Adam at his creation for he was clothed it and didn't even know his nakedness until he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When that sin occurred that glory was lost but the image of God that we were created in wasn't taken. Satan will continue to actively attempt to change that and take that away from you.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; (Psalm 8:3-6 NLT)
God didn't have to think about your creation. He didn't have to contemplate your existence. He didn't have to ponder your design because it came straight from His own likeness! Satan despises this and wants to tear that away from you. He doesn't want you clothed in the glory of God. Satan doesn't want you to live with the understanding that you are the sons and daughters of the Most High. He needs you broken down thinking that you are worthless, that you have no value, that your purpose is nonexistent and that you could never amount to anything in the eyes of the Father. Because if you see yourself as the son or daughter of a King then what control and dominion would he have over you?
Teens today as well as many adults are going through this battle that they need to conform to something to fit in. They need to accept a certain label to be accepted by society or possibly even have a value. God never said you needed anything more than His love. It's time that we encourage each other to take a look in the mirror and not see the man or woman looking back at us. We need to see sons and daughters of a King, who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ who came to restore God's glory to man! No longer should you see the person who isn't as pretty as you want them to be, no longer should we see the person who isn't the weight you want them to be, no longer should we see the broken life that we think has no purpose, no longer should we see the chains of bondage weighing us down, no longer should we see anxiety and depression, no longer should we see a lack of value and worth, no longer should we see person who is unlovable, because there is a God in heaven who took you and formed you and knows your name!
Satan hates and despises you because you have been given more than him and you have been blessed and favored more over than the angels of heaven for you have His image. God's love for you is unconditional and purposeful. You could not change your personality to make God love you any more or less cause even when you were in sin He still loved you, not because He had to but because He chose to.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:3-5 NLT)
Let me tell you, it is time to take back and own the image that God gave you! Too long have you allowed the devil to steal your joy and tell you that you are beneath him. God created you for a purpose and formed each and every part of you to His perfection! He didn't create you with a flaw, because everything that comes from Him is perfect and for a purpose. Pick your head up from the ground and start looking to the sky and realize you have value, because your God, your Father in heave gave His only son to die for your sins cause He loves you with everything He has. No other person has or self proclaimed god has every paid that price or attempted to carry the weight of sin for all. Own that image that He put for in you and help others to see the image that He gave to them! Be a light to the world and allow His image to live and grow His kingdom through you!
Comments