“Then God said, Let us make men in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over all the creatures that move along the ground.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”

-Genesis 1:26-27

Father, you, remarkably created me in your image. Even though you knew how flawed, broken, sinful I would be–you still created me to be like YOU. And when I don’t care about myself, when my attitude is indifferent concerning my life, on the days I’m ready to give up, through the times I no longer desire to care for this sick body… I will choose to cherish the temple You have put me in. Because You created me to be like you. The body that you’ve given me, these talents, these traits, the quirks & idiosyncrasies, were all designed to be reflections of glory.

How much greater must I treat this body once I realize & truly grasp in whose image I was created?!

The Lord Almighty’s.

The King of Kings.

The Great I AM.

You created me to be in Your image.

To be a reflection of You.

The possibilities of what I could have been were endless, for the word “Impossible” is not even in Your vocabulary. Yet You intentionally, carefully, lovingly chose to design Your children in the image of YOU alone.How humbling, gratifying, encouraging, heart-warming, awe-inspiring, soul-turning, life-changing is this truth!

We are His beloved– He is our beloved.

In His likeness, the Master Potter formed us, His priceless jars of clay. We are His– not our own. These bodies are our responsibility to cherish, to treat as Holy temples as they were made by the one who is Holy with Holiness in mind, to radiate His Holy power. Clearly, we are not made exactly like God. We can’t be– nor are we meant to be. However, we can reflect Him through our character, the way we choose to love others, in our speech, in our obedience, in showing forgiveness & mercy, in displaying the fruits of the Spirit. By using our God given talents for His glory, we are shining bright His reflection & His image.

“God looked at His creation and saw that it was very good.”

And it was good.

This is repeated multiple times through Genesis 1. God felt good about His work, He was proud of His accomplishment of creationism. (Not too shabby, right?) What He created was & still is good. That includes us. Yes, mere humans created in His likeness, we are His creation, & in His perfect sight…we are good. God was meticulous & careful in creating you, therefore, do not be careless with His masterpiece. Remember, after He made us, God looked at His beloved and saw that it was good.

Some days, I graciously & gratefully accept the challenge of caring for a broken body. Other days, my heart longs for a new body or preferably, my old one, that functioned in such a beautiful, blessed way. Most days, I experience a mixture of all of the above because whether I like it or not, this is the body I am stuck with for the entirety of my Earthly life. Nothing will change that.

So, I will choose to like it.

I will accept the challenge day by day and rise to the occasion.

I will find joy in the midst of every stumbling block I must hurdle to make it through the day.

And I will take superb care of this body as I rest in the knowledge of whose Hand it was formed by and in whose image it was created.

Because my Father says it is good, very good indeed.