A piece of the sermon yesterday stood out to me, so I thought I’d share.
When God made the first man and woman, He created them “in His image” and “after His likeness.” (Genesis 1:26-27) When you look at the Hebrew for the words “image” and “likeness,” they each have to do with resemblance, though in different ways. “Image” has to do with a shade or representative figure, also used in the context of an idol. “Likeness” has to do concretely with the model or shape of a thing, it is like or similar to something else.
Both of these together tell us that God made us as His representatives. We were made to be separate from the rest of His creation. We are the only things made to resemble God, in many different aspects of our beings.
Then mankind fell into sin. But even though we are corrupted, we still bear resemblance, we still bear the image of God. Knowing what would happen, God made us like Him anyway, and let us stay that way. This means that you are very, very important and worth dignity and respect just based off your existence. This means that even horrible people that you don’t like are also image bearers. We are all important and should treat each other in a way that befits beings who bear the image of God.