Image-bearer of God

How is this for a snow bank in my old home state of North Dakota? Thanks Cuz for the pic.

A benefit of knowing God more deeply is seeing ourselves from His perspective. One view is that of an image-bearer of the Creator of the Universe
We are created in the image of God, but man marred that reflection. Adam and Eve responded to the temptation of the evil one, disobeyed God and man fell from his position of intimacy with God. Fallen, depraved, in search for love, security, significance and identity, yet, redeemable.

As an image-bearer of God, how do you see yourself from this perspective: Are you “a sinner saved by grace” or “a saint who can sin.” A sinner saved by grace perspective tends to focus on sin and makes sin palatable, expected. But First John 2 says we are to make sin the exception. Live like a saint - who can sin. And call sin, sin. Not weakness or mistake....

Christians were referred to in the NT 60 times as saints, like Romans 1:7, “called to be saints (the consecrated ones, amp.Bible) Yes, I'm one who sins and am saved by God's grace, but I choose to focus on my God-given grace of sainthood because "As a man thinks so is he…"

Besides being referred to as saints, Paul in his 14 NT books describes Christians as being “in Christ” 164 times... stressing the truth of the believers’ union with Christ in death, resurrection, ascension and present position. The fact of the believers position “in Christ” permeates the entire thought of Ephesians. A Christian’s real identity - in Christ.

The word mystery is used 5 times in Ephesians. - mystery, a hidden truth held in secret til proper time for revelation in God’s timetable for our lives. This mystery, being in Christ, is revealed to us most often in tough times and the revelation of this mystery seems to have deepening levels. (Another benefit of going through tough times.)

We understand it first at a surface level and as our growth in Christ develops, so does our awareness of this mystery - who we really are in Him and how that affects our fellowship with God. Thus, to grapple with being an “image-bearer of God” we learn more deeply our position “In Christ,” because Jesus said that He and the Father were one. We’ll elaborate more in the next post.