Be a star in the "never ending story"

Genesis, the book of all beginnings, makes a powerful claim: It says that God created mankind in His own image.

And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. Genesis 1:27 

What does that actually mean?

When we read a book or watch a play every character reveals a slightly different aspect of the author or playwright. Each character and his or her interaction with the author is in someway a little piece of the author. Some characters serve the author’s best intentions, while others serve as protagonists, bringing out good or evil in other characters.

Every good story has a villain who plays the crucial role of bringing out the “inner person” of most, if not all of the other characters in the story. The villain’s nature is seen as a counterpoint to the “good guys” or hero of the story. His actions allow the other characters to develop their deepest selves, display amazing courage, tremendous resilience, and other positive attributes.

Every character in a story ultimately serves the purposes of the author. However, some characters are serving the author directly as expressions of himself in the world which he created. Conversely, some are serving the author indirectly by creating opportunities for others to be of direct service.

Every human who has ever been conceived is a character in God’s story… a never-ending story. To serve or not to serve is not the question… we have no choice over that matter… our only choice is HOW we will serve. We can choose to serve God directly…by playing the “good guys”, or we can join forces with the villain and serve indirectly.   

Will it make a difference how we serve? Well, not to the author of humanity’s story… it will be written anyway… but it will make a difference to us as a character in that story! Our choice not only determines our final scene, it also “sets the stage” for the quality of the role we get to play.

And if it seems evil to you to serve Jehovah, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served Beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. Joshua 24:15 MJKV

No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13 MKJV

We were not created in the image of some Hollywood star (or starlet) or wafer-thin supermodel. We were not created in the image of a super-star athlete, or some power-driven fabulously rich executive, or even in the image of Paul the Apostle or Mother Teresa of Calcutta. We were created in His image. We were created to reflect God’s character. We are God’s self-portrait…

The Hebrew word for “Image” means a copy or a counterpart. We are a reflection of God almighty. He couldn’t/wouldn’t create another God just like him, so He created an image which would reflect His glory on the earth.

We did not evolve from some piece of primordial slime, an accidental occurrence of happenstance and chance. We are not the result of alien intervention, or  a interstellar "seeding" experiment. 

We have lost sight of the fact that we were/are God’s pinnacle of creation… all of creation finds its culmination in humanity! We are His image… stars in His never-ending story.

And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 MKJV