ODJ: In His Image

January 10, 2018 

READ: John 14:1-21 

When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (v.20).

The movie Self/less tells the fictional story of a wealthy dying man trying to attain immortality by transferring his consciousness to a younger man’s ‘host’ body. While things go well at first, it eventually becomes clear that all is not as it should be, as the memories of the younger man begin surfacing in the wealthy man’s mind, resulting in some dire complications.

Unlike that unsuccessful attempt at passing on an identity, God has successfully left His blueprint in humanity. In the midst of designing His creation masterpiece, “God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. . . .’ So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).

The advent of sin prevented humanity from obtaining a full understanding of what it meant to be made in God’s image. But Jesus came as a human once more perfectly displaying God’s image, declaring, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:8-9).

Through Him, our relationship to the Father can be restored. Jesus went on to say, “Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (vv.19-20). After Jesus rose from the dead and poured out His Spirit, the disciples began to understand the new reality Jesus had described.

Although sin corrupted the flawless nature of God’s creation, it was powerless to undo His design. We still carry the spiritual DNA of the Creator of the universe in us and can find restoration through Him. Like the psalmist, may we praise our God, for He has made us “wonderfully complex” and His “workmanship is marvellous” (Psalm 139:14).

—Remi Oyedele

365-day plan: Genesis 18:1-15