Memory Text — Genesis 1:26-27 26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Westminster Shorter Catechism 10: How did God create man? God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
Monday: Gen 1:26-27. What is an image (see Isaiah 10:10, 11’s usage)? In what sense is Seth the image and likeness of Adam (Gen 5:1, 3)? “Man as man is the image of God.” What does this say about man’s value, dignity, and honor? How does this provide solid ground to honor and care for the weakest and most broken in the world? How can you take part in that?
Tuesday: Gen 1:26-27. One of the consequences of being an image bearer is rational thought. How do you see this in the contrast between Gen 1:22 and v 20? 2:20? How has the fall disfigured the intellect? How does Jesus begin to restore it (Col 1:15, 3:10? How are you actively using and developing your mind and intellect?
Wednesday: Gen 1:26-27. Another consequence of being the image of God is that we reflect God in function. How do you see this in v 26, 27, 2:15? In what ways do you image God in terms of what you do? How does this bring greater dignity and value to those things? Consider how the fall, redemption, and glory alter the function-aspect of being the image of God.
Thursday: Gen 1:26-27. Relationship is another outflow of being image bearers. How do you see relationship between God and man, and man and woman in 1:26f, and 3:8-9? How does being recreated in the image of God change our relationships with other image bearers (e.g. Gen 9:6, James 3:9)? Tell yourself as you pass people today, “he/she is an image bearer of God.”
Friday: Gen 1:26-27. What will happen to believer’s image bearing in the future (Rom 8:29-30,1 Cor 15:49)? Ponder the implications of this Lewis quote: “It is hardly possible for you to think too often or too deeply about that [potential glory] of your neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of your neighbor’s glory should be laid on your back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
Saturday: Read Gen 1:28-31. What implications does this text have for stewarding creation?