Created in His Image

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” – Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

Out of all of God’s creation, He chose to make us in His own image. What does that really mean? What is the image of God? How can we conform to that image?

It is unfortunate that despite the revealed truth of the Word of God, some still foolishly believe in the lie called evolution; that man came into being as a result of a random act of nature and evolved from a monkey into a human being. If that were the case, why is it that monkeys no longer turn into humans? Though I have not yet seen a monkey turn into a human, I have, however, seen humans turn into monkeys. Only a monkey will believe that he came from a monkey. Man turns into a monkey when he rejects the truth of scripture and does not reflect the image of God, His creator. “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God…” (Psalm 14:1a). When the enemy causes us to reject who we are in Christ, we face the threat of being destroyed in spiritual warfare. We are at war and the only way he can defeat us is to get us to forget who we are and identify with how we feel, what we do, and how others perceive us. Rather than who God created us to be and how He views us.

Walking in the image of God, which is our original nature before sin, is essential to building a successful kingdom business and overcoming the spiritual warfare we face each day.

The image of God is His own reflection; we were made to look and act like Him. There are seven characteristics to God’s image:

• Eternal – God has no beginning or end. He is, was, and is to come. Like God, we become eternal upon receiving salvation; not that we are immortal, but death becomes our passport to eternity.
• Holy – God is pure. There is no imperfection in Him. He calls us to be holy as He is holy. Holiness for us is not the absence of sin, but rather, it is the presence of a dynamic relationship with a loving Savior whose blood cleanses all of our imperfections.
• Spirit – God is not a physical being but an existing Spirit. The mistake we tend to make is to limit our existence to our physics, when that isn’t who we really are. Like God, the ‘real us’ is spirit and we must allow that spirit to be activated and let it take full control over our physical being. The physical is limited, while the spirit is unlimited.
• Creator – God is an innovator and is industrious. He has the ability to create. Of all His characteristics, entrepreneurs can best relate to this one because we understand the process of creating. Like God, whatever we imagine, we can produce. There are no limitations to our creative abilities.
• Loving – “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). God’s love is what led Him to send His only Son to die on the cross. Like God, we must be love and demonstrate our compassion for others. We must be willing to lay down our lives for others.
• Savior – Without His saving nature, Adam would not have been redeemed and Jesus would not have been sent. He loves to rescue because it gives Him the opportunity to be the Savior that He is. Through our businesses, we have the opportunity to bring salvation to the lost, saving them from their sins. We have the privilege to provide a safe environment for people to serve and provide for their families, saving them from abuse and tyranny.
• Just – God’s justice causes Him to judge wickedness and chastise those whom He loves. We must not cooperate with wickedness but take every opportunity to challenge it. We must resist the temptation to adopt “fairness” as a value. This is a dangerous attempt to play God, perhaps thinking that we’re going to make good decisions apart from submitting to God’s perfect righteousness and wisdom. God uses his perfect justice to ultimately yield redemption.

Ultimately, God is an eternal Holy Being who created everything that exists. Although sin brought destruction to His creation, His love for us compelled Him to come as a Savior to redeem His creation and ultimately bring judgment upon the wicked.

Walking in the image of God is essential to our success as kingdom business stewards since that is God’s original and divine order. For us to conform to our original nature, we must make sure we have accepted His Son as our Lord and Savior. We must have an active prayer and devotional life and challenge ourselves daily to walk in the characteristics of God’s image. This is essential in overcoming spiritual warfare.

My prayer for you today is that God will give you the grace to conform to His image and likeness so you may overcome spiritual warfare to realize His plan and purpose for your life in the marketplace.