Tag: redeem

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Made in God’s Image

After God created earth and sky, plants and animals, He did something incredibly loving; He created human beings. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). We have the very image of God in our DNA, designed to be uniquely different from and to shepherd (rule) all the other creatures on earth. We were meant to rule according to His standard of morality for the good of all living things (Psalm 112). We were designed to walk in His image.

Walking in God’s image was the only way of life human beings were meant for. But today, and since sin entered the world and the human heart, there has been a struggle for us to reflect His characteristics, and our hearts became prone to wandering away from God and His Ways. In light of this, what does it look like for us to genuinely reflect God’s image in our character?

God’s characteristics (for more see the Characteristics of God series) include being just and generous, righteous, and moral (Psalm 112). He generously gave us Jesus, His Son, and brilliantly, with justice through Jesus’ blood sacrifice, gave us redemption from sin and eternal life with Him. He also gave us the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13). In so doing, He restored our ability to walk in His image!

This doesn’t mean walking in His image is easy, even for those who have been saved by believing in Jesus. It takes choosing to take up our cross daily to follow Him, and losing our life (refusing to follow the sinful desires of the flesh) to follow the Way of Jesus (Luke 9:23-24), who is our perfect example of living according to God’s character and will. He is faithfully walking with us and empowering us to be faithful through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). In Galatians 5, Paul writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). We reflect God’s image by denying our flesh, choosing to live by the Spirit, as we believe and rely on the redemption and hope we have in Jesus. God longs for us and our character to genuinely reflect His image (Psalm 112). When we pray according to God’s will, we can be assured that He will answer our prayer (John 14:14).

An important caveat is that it is a privilege to be made in God’s image,  and something to treat with the utmost humility. It is not our right to play God. To do so is to walk in the flesh, which only prolongs suffering apart from the will of God. It is important to remember when talking about God’s image in us that we are not God; God is God, and we are not. 

The image of God is renewed in us by redemption through Jesus Christ. When we abide in Jesus, we have healing, restoration, and life, even in the midst of sin. When Jesus returns to earth, sin will be no more, and we will live in the beautiful way God intended at the Beginning. But, we will understand God’s love on a much deeper level, because we will know and have experienced the bondage to sin that He saved us from. We will understand the lengths He went to rescue and redeem us from it. This just increases our intimacy with God, which sin tried to prevent, but which God desires. Thankfully for us, God’s will always will be done.

Children are often thought of as looking like, or having the image of, their parents. The greatest privilege anyone can have is to be a child of God, to bear His image. And the amazing things is that He offers it to everyone freely, through Jesus Christ. Everyone bears His image, because He created all people, including you! Sin tragically separated us from God our Father. But Jesus, the Son of God, sacrificed Himself on our behalf, making a Way for us to be adopted back into the family of God (Ephesians 1:4-6). Jesus died to save us from the sin in our own hearts and from the sin of the world. He loves all those who were born to bear the image of His Father.  

May we joyously thank God for allowing us the Way to partake of His great love in the family of families, which we were made for, and where we will always belong. Amen.  

“Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord” (Psalm 112:4-7).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Characteristics of God: More Grace

I am, on my own, very slow to give grace to others, and even slower to give grace to myself. I could very easily slip into a spiral of regret, and have a few times. But giving grace is something that becomes much easier when I started to understand how much grace God willingly gives me, constantly. Denying grace towards myself keeps me stuck, blocking me from living in freedom. In surrendering to God’s grace, I can acknowledge that I did the best I could for what I knew and was capable of at the time.

Surrendering to the work of Jesus on the cross for me, and being sure and confident of His love, allows me to be more forgiving, loving, grace-full, and more fully myself. It has been the best possible decision for my life with the King. That decision needs to happen in my heart not just every new year, but every single new day. The best part is, God freely gives His grace to everyone. Jesus is enough, more than enough, to make up for our imperfections. He lends us His righteousness, His holiness, and His blood so that we, jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7), can approach the Father as His adopted sons and daughters. He loves us more than we can think or imagine! In Jesus, we have no more reasons to regret or live in shame. He provides freedom from these burdens because of His amazing, all-encompassing grace.

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus and what He would mean for us long before He was born. The grace of God nearly glimmers off the pages of Isaiah; today I’m focusing especially on chapters 41-43. God’s steadfast love is palpable in the prophet’s words, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). God’s promises are full of love and grace; in this verse He offers His presence, His strength, His help, and His righteousness—to us—to you and to me! To everyone that believes in Jesus, He not only claims us as His own, but He also calls Himself ours. We are beholden to Him, and He choses to make Himself beholden to us! Through faith in Jesus, we are adopted into the family of His chosen people, Israel (Isaiah 41:8; Ephesians 1:5).

How is this possible? Nothing is impossible with God, “...I [God] will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:18b). With God, everything can turn around, even when all seems lost or hopeless. I’ve seen it happen many times, with hearts being changed, with lives being saved, or with seemingly no way out of a bad situation, God can and does make a way, by His grace. The Bible is full of God’s promises to His people, evidences of His incredible grace.

God doesn’t give up on us.

His grace has no end. If you think you’re too far gone for God, you’re simply mistaken. God’s grace is always, always there for you. “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: ‘I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:5-7). As we read here, God gave us breath, and our spirits, and the light of the world in Jesus. He has invested His whole heart into loving us all and making a way for us to thrive; by His grace He will never, ever give up on you.

With a new year ahead, it’s a great time to remember God’s will is to make all things new (Revelation 21:5), not because we are somehow “old” or not good enough as we are, but because that was His design for us from the beginning. We are to be “being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16), from the inside. Isaiah prophesied, ” ‘. . . Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.’ Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, . . .” (Isaiah 42:9-10a). God is interested in doing new things, and I’m excited to continue inviting God to renew, restore, and sanctify me, day by day. There is nothing you or I can do to earn that gift; the only response is to praise Him for it.

Even when we fail to love God, as Israel did, by failing to walk with Him and failing to obey Him (Isaiah 42:24), He is pleased to redeem us because of His possessive and caring love towards us. Isaiah continues, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” . . . ‘ (Isaiah 43: 1-2). Did you catch it too? We are already redeemed, already claimed as His own. We are promised His presence and protection, even when the circumstances are as dire and serious as flood or flames.

The grace of God is protective and unique

When we know that the character of God is gracious to such a great level beyond understanding, it inspires the awe and wonder that He deserves. His grace is so great that He made us, chooses us, loves us, and calls us His. “I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). He stepped in when nothing and no one else could to save us from the destructiveness of sin in our world and in our hearts. God’s grace to deliver us is why we are able to have hope (2 Corinthians 1:10). “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). God doesn’t remember our sins. Do we?

We can let the shame and burdens go too; they aren’t for holding onto, they are for releasing and allowing God’s grace to cover. Let Him cover you in His love. Halleluiah for the opportunity God’s grace gives us! May 2026 be a year of praising and worshiping God, and may we be overflowing with gratitude and with the grace that God generously provides!

” . . .. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. . . .” (Isaiah 42:16c).

“‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me” . . .’ (Isaiah 43:10).

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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