Signs of God's Grace: Created In The Image Of God

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

November 23, 2003

Text: Genesis 1:26-27

It is impossible to be our best and do our best when we have a low opinion of ourselves. Some of us camouflage our feelings of low self-esteem with the pretense of bravado and egotism. I discovered a long time ago, that beneath the surface of many of us who appear to be egotistical and full of ourselves, is the haunting fear of insignificance and low self worth. And so we do and do and do and brag and advertise ourselves, all in an attempt to prove to somebody (primarily ourselves) that we really are "somebody."

But I think this is not the problem of most of us. I think most of us do not camouflage our low self-esteem with bravado. I think most of us are made timid by our negative image of ourselves. Because of low self-esteem, we cannot even recognize our abilities and are unable to see what we have to offer.

Afraid of embarrassment or criticism, we keep our candles safely protected under a basket, where their flickering light helps no one and improves nothing. In the quiet of our timid and protected lives we grieve about what is wrong; we are upset by the injustice we see, but made timid by low self-esteem, we say nothing and do little. It could well be that evil's greatest allies are those of us who are good people but who fail to do the good we could do and who remain silent in the face of wrong.

Sometimes we try to soothe the ache of our conscience by telling ourselves: "What little I could have done, really would not have changed anything." We are like a man on a beach that was littered with starfish dying after high tide had left them stranded. He walked along, making no to effort to save any of them by throwing them back into the ocean. He was convinced the little he could do would not make much of a difference. But, of course, his lack of action made the difference of death rather than live for the starfish he could have rescued.

A few days ago, an interview on The Today Show, that some of you may also have seen, caught my attention. Apparently, viewers had been invited to write letters telling about someone who had been important in their lives with whom they had lost contact and would like to see again. The young man being interviewed had a mild speech problem, and the physical appearance of someone I could imagine having received a bad time from other children when he was young. As we all know, children can be terribly cruel -- especially to those who "look different" or "act different."

As the interview unfolded, it became clear this was the case in his childhood. While gruesome details were not told, it was clear his home was far from ideal, with little support, probably neglect and maybe even abuse. In school, he had such low self-esteem he tried to make himself invisible and unnoticed by other children and teachers. In class he tried to sit in the back of the room, slump as low as possible in his seat and bury his head in his arms on the desk. While he may not have totally succeeded in being invisible to other children (especially those who picked on him), most teachers did not seem to see him, much less take the time or make the effort to let him know they cared.

But there was one teacher who not only noticed, she began to speak to him personally after class, and what she said each time was: "I want you to know, I think you are special and that you matter; and I want you to see yourself that way too."

In the interview this young man said, because of this teacher not only seeing he was a person of worth but telling him what she saw and also encouraging him to see himself through her eyes, he began to see himself differently. It was the beginning of his discovering he was a person of worth, and his negative self-image began to change to one that was positive. Looking back on his life, he saw what that teacher did was the turning point in his life. She motivated him to move on with his life, striving to make the most of the gifts he had.

The passage we read from Genesis declares we have been created in the image of God, and this story I just told illustrates two of the basic meanings in this ancient proclamation: that each of us is a person of worth and we have been created for a purpose.

It is important to know we have been created in the image of God. We matter, as a poster that was popular a few years ago declared: "God made me, and God does not make junk." When we forget this truth, we fall into low self-esteem. Unable to love ourselves, we are crippled, even paralyzed, in our ability to love God and others.

That little boy with his head buried in his arms, was unable to be his best or do his best. What the teacher helped the child to see was that he mattered. That is what he needed to know in order for him to make the best use of the gifts he had been given.

God not only made us, God created us in His image. To proclaim we are created in the image of God not only declares that we matter, it proclaims we matter to God, the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all that is. This does not mean that the world around us will always recognize our worth. The world did not recognize the worth of Jesus; in fact it was the limited vision of people the world declared important who had him executed as a criminal. But when we live by faith, we do not surrender to the world's values nor to the world's evaluation of persons, nor the world's evaluation of us. This is what that teacher helped that little boy to see: that regardless of what some others might say he was a person of worth; he was not a "nobody; he was a "somebody." And he began to move away from his negative self image until he was able to become the man he is today.

When we begin to be aware that we are persons of worth because we are created in the image of God, we begin to live as the persons God created us to be, persons living in the image of God.

How do we do that? Some scholars have called attention to the fact that when the first chapter of Genesis was written, one of the ways conquering emperors marked their territory was by having images or statues of themselves placed around their empire. This was an attempt to let everyone know who the ruler was.

Created in the image of God, we are to be something like those statues, only dynamic and active - not frozen like stone. We humans are supposed to be the creatures who make known the Ruler of the universe. This means the essence of who God is, is also to be the essence of who we are. And as the first letter of John states with profound simplicity, the essence of God is love. The teacher in the story I just told, whether she was aware of it or not, illustrates what it means to live in in image of God. Her compassion for that brow beaten little boy, reached out to him through words, attitude and behavior to help him discover, he too is a child of God, created in the image of God; he too is a person of infinite worth -- regardless of his appearance and limited abilities. Being created in the image of God means not only means that we matter but that we are to live in God's image. The essence of who God is, is to be the essence of who we are. We are to love others as God in Christ has loved us.

Although as individuals and as the human race we have tarnished, defaced, distorted and devalued the image of God within us, our abuse and misuse of God's gift, does not deny the truth and reality of God's gift. We have been created in the image of God to live in God's image. We are to live godly lives in midst of the ungodly world.

We are to be the kind of people Jesus called the light of the world and the salt of the earth. We are to give of ourselves for the good of others, especially those with the greatest need, the least power and the weakest voices. As "godly people " we are to stand up against what is harmful, unjust, destructive - evil. We are to live in harmony with God so that the kind of compassion that teacher offered that brow beaten little boy is the kind of compassion that shapes our living. Being created in the image of God, not only declares we are persons of worth, it also says something about the way we are to live. We are to live as God's representatives in God's world.

God, help us live in your image so that we will be who you intend us to be, doing what you want us to do. Amen.

Pastoral prayer:

God, as we approach the special day our nation has set aside for giving You thanks, we confess that all too much of the time we are so busy going from here to there and doing this and that, we fail to pause and notice all we have been given and because of this, unable to experience true gratitude. We call blessings good luck as we hurry to our next appointment. Caught in the heavy traffic of our lives, we are so focused on the frustration of not being able to move as fast as we want, we fail to notice the beauty around us. Focused on the things we want and the problems we have, we are unable to see life as a marvelous gift of grace. Forgive us and transform us, so that we are aware of our many blessings. And when we are going through times that are difficult, when we are frightened or in grief, help us be aware of all you provide in the midst of hard times so that we can draw on these gifts and drawing on them, find not only the strength we need but also experience the wonder of gratitude. God, as we prepare for Thanksgiving open our eyes and transform our hearts so that we are aware of our blessings and able to experience the amazed joy of being truly thankful. This we pray, in gratitude for the one who was making us aware of your blessings when he taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."