May 3 – Our Highest Purpose (Genesis 1:26-28)

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27)

IN WORD:
No one can live wisely and with purpose without realizing where we came from, where we are going, and why it all came about in the first place. That is the foundation for everything. If we don’t understand that, we don’t understand the gospel and we don’t have the context to make daily decisions that will align with God’s plan. We must know: We are created from Him, for Him, and in His likeness.
It’s a remarkable truth. We were meant to be the image of God, and though the image was shattered in the Fall, God’s original intention lives on.
He was not surprised the Fall, and His plan included fashioning a people who would reflect His glory. He still means for us to bear His image. That’s why He has put His Spirit in the heart of sinful but redeemed mankind — these earthen vessels that we are. Humanity will bear His image. He will be seen in His creation. Never mind that His image-bearers once forfeited that privilege. Even before we lost it, He had determined to re-craft it in us. He bears His image in us Himself.

IN DEED:
We get caught up in jobs, mortgages, family business, relationships, and pastimes, trying to find some sense of fulfillment in all of them. It’s easy to get distracted that way. But we have a higher calling lying underneath it all. We are made to be like Him! That’s the point of it all. That was the purpose of our first parents, and that is the purpose of our redemption. Adam & Eve were modeled after Him; but we are even inhabited by Him. We are daily being conformed to the image of God in Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
Do you live with that awareness? Are your mundane, daily decisions made with that in mind? Meditate on this amazing truth daily and let it guide your life. Whatever your other desires, there is no higher calling than this. It’s what we were made for.

“The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.” -Clement of Alexandria-