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Meditation 2

You Look Just Like Your Daddy

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness . . . .” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

—Genesis 1:26–27

In whose image are you?

In some families, genes are very strong. Even when I was a boy, it was not unusual for a friend of one of my parents to say, “You know, you look just like your daddy.” I was, and still am, a big fan of my father, so I took it as a real compliment. As I grew older, I came across photos of my grandfather in his young adult years, and lo and behold, I looked even more like him!

When I was a young man, I learned a great deal from my father. He ran a large retail business, and my sisters and I were often sidekicks. We lived in the suburbs, and, unlike some of my friends, did not have a lake or mountain home. Because of my father’s full work schedule, it was hard to get away to go camping or fishing, so he would purposely make time to spend with us. This time usually began with the words, “Kids . . . let’s go”; and off we went to the bowling alley, the movies, to play putt-putt. I suppose it was not just genes that made me “look like my daddy,” but the time I spent with him during these mini-vacations.

The old, old story tells us that humankind, male and female, was fashioned in the image of God. It would be overly simplistic to believe that God has arms, legs, hair, eyes, and ears as we do. The Bible also tells us that God is “spirit,” meaning, by nature God is probably not physical in the way you and I know physical.² However, we, you and I, are still created to look “just like our daddy” or “just like our mommy.”

Spend some time with this question, “In whose image are you?” I purposely do not end that phrase with the word “made,” because frankly many in today’s world have forgotten or lost touch with the reality that we are all created in God’s image, and instead have tried to fashion themselves in an image of their own making. My mentor John Claypool used to tell me, “One of the real problems with our human nature is that while we may believe we are created in the image of God, we too often try to return the favor.”

If the person in the mirror looks more like a person of your own making, and not like the image of God, then something is awry. Spending some time with this question about image may reveal to us that we are allowing ourselves to be made in the image of something we were not intended to be. Maybe I want to be made in the image of a great humanitarian—such as Albert Schweitzer or Archbishop Desmond Tutu; perhaps a well-known capitalist like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates; maybe a historic hero such as Abraham Lincoln or Rosa Parks; or a well-known celebrity, politician, athlete, and so on. It may just be the guy down the street or the woman who works across the hall; but you were not . . . you are not created in those images. You were created in the image of God Almighty.

When you lose touch with that, even for a moment, you lose touch to some degree not only with God, but also with your reason for being. One of the best ways to go back to that image, again and again, is to respond to God’s simple words, “Kids . . . let’s go.” To rest your image not in anyone’s hands but God’s by spending more and more time with him . . . at work, at play, at rest . . . when all is silent . . . when loudness shatters the quiet, just be with God. In time you know you will look in the mirror and hear a divine whisper, “You look just like your daddy.” Toward that end, image is everything.

A Bit of Heaven

In whose image are you? Are you made in God’s image? Or are you being made in an image of your own making? What can you do, concretely do, to put yourself in his presence more and more? What can you do to get in touch with the reality that you are, indeed, made in God’s image?

A Prayer

Almighty God,

by Whose spoken Word

all things came into being,

speak yet again within me

that by Your Holy Spirit

I may increasingly become

the child You created me to be

in your image, your very own.

Amen.

2 John 4:24.