Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
I was reading J. I. Packer's book Concise Theology
and he wrote something that really hit home with me. It was in the
chapter Humanness (page 71) which dealt with what it means to be human
and man's role as the image bearer of God:
"The
statement at the start of the Bible (Gen. 1:26-27, echoed in 5:1; 1
Cor. 11:7; James 3:9) that God made man in his own image, so that humans
are like God as no other earthly creatures are, tells us that the
special dignity of being human is that, as humans, we may reflect and
reproduce at our own creaturely level the holy ways of God., and thus
act as his direct representatives on earth. This is what humans are
made to do, and in one sense we are human only to the extent that are
doing it."
It made me think, "How well am I being
"human" in the sense that Dr. Packer is speaking of?" The answer is I
am not doing very well. I unceasingly fail to reproduce the holy ways
of God.
May God grant me the ability to reproduce His holy ways.
RC