When I look at the sky, which You have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?
Psalm 8:4 (Good News Bible)
If you have no answer for that, our culture has a couple of ideas for you: gender and ethnicity. Women are oppressed and undervalued and men hold all the power. (If you believe otherwise, it just shows—poor you—how badly you have been fooled.) The same goes for ethnicity: white equals power and privilege; anything else is inescapably second best.
If you are a Christian, however, those answers don’t wash. In Galatians 3:28 it says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Your gender, your ethnicity, your position in life—advantaged, underprivileged, anywhere in between—cannot hinder the Spirit’s eternal plan for you and His work in you.
So, if you are a Christian, what is the most important thing about you? What provides that grid of both evaluation and response? If you are a Christian, the most important thing about you is not an identity, but a calling. That calling is to be a worthy image-bearer.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26).
All that had come before, distant planets, whirling galaxies, majestic mountains, fathomless oceans, spouting whales, surprising elephants, sparkling hummingbirds and a million other amazing things were intended to display God’s power. In creating mankind, God gave us an insight into His Mind.
A friend of mine has a saying, “It’s all about you, cupcake.” Well, this week it is. To understand who God created us to be and what He intended for us, is the most wonderful and up-lifting of truths. To miss it and settle for the second-best selfies that the world is peddling, is just too sad to think about.
Nancy Shirah
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