Read: Genesis 1: 26-2: 25 (key verses: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:4-7, 18-25)
Reflect: Who
are you? What makes your life most meaningful? When people are asked
these questions, they usually point to one or both of these aspects of
their lives: 1) their occupation or 2) their relationships. Today’s
scripture passage gives us a reason why these two aspects are so
important to our understanding of who we are as people: they are rooted
in the very creation of mankind.
Genesis tells us we were created by
God, which means that God alone knows why any person is here and what
meaning that person holds. Mankind holds a very important place in
creation: instead of God simply thinking man into being, as He did with
the rest of creation, He specifically breathed life into Adam. Genesis
1:26-28 further makes the point that mankind was created in God’s image,
male and female. And finally, we read that after God created mankind
the man and woman, He gave them specific charges for what to do with
their lives.
What does it mean to be created in the
image of God? Firstly, we see is that mankind is created for
relationship. Verse 27 follows up the statement that God creates man in
His own image by specifying that God creates us male and female. Genesis
2:18 fleshes this out further when God pronounces that “it is not good
for the man to be alone”, and creates a suitable helper for him. The
rest of the creation story makes it very clear that the only suitable
helper for the man is the woman—bone of his bones and flesh of his
flesh. No matter how attached a person may be to a pet, for instance,
that relationship will never be able to match a human relationship at
giving that person a sense of significance in life. We are relational
beings because we are created in God’s image—which means relationship is
key to God’s very nature.
The Hebrew word for “helper” used in
this creation account is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer
specifically to God Himself (ex: Psalm 46). Marriage is a picture for us
of what it means to be in relationship with God Himself. God at His
very core desires relationship—when people describe Him as love, they
are rightfully identifying God’s essential nature. Mankind is created by
the God who is Love, so that we can experience love ourselves—both in
relationship to God, and to each other. We cannot know how to make our
lives truly meaningful apart from the relationship God has designed for
us to have with Him. Such a relationship allows us to discover further
the purposes and plans God, our Creator, has for each of us, and to live
them out.
Taking it Further: Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are God’s workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do.” Do you see yourself as God’s workmanship? Are you aware that God
has good works planned for you? If yes, how are you doing at carrying
them out? If no, what can you do to learn about God’s plans for you?
