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.”
Genesis 1:26 NIV
Living a consecrated life unto the Lord is important. Interestingly, we instinctively behave according to where we belong. Looking at our verse of the day, we see how God took an interest in humans and said, “Let us make man in our image.” This means that once we have given our lives to Jesus, we cannot afford to live outside of the image God created us in.
After creation, the serpent came to tempt humanity, leading to a change in imagery. When God made man, He created man in His image. However, after the fall, all the seeds by birth were in the image of the fallen man. To prevent our consecration from being perverted, we must continue to live in the image of Jesus. We do ourselves a disservice when we live outside God’s original plan.
God created Adam in His image. Adam lived in the Garden of Eden and behaved accordingly. He named all the animals without receiving an impulse from God because he was in God’s likeness. His thinking was patterned according to the way God thinks, and he could not do otherwise. In our own time, God recreates us in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ when we are born again. Scripture says that the seed of God is in us because we have given our lives to Jesus, and we cannot live outside of that life. To live outside of that life is to live outside of Jesus.
The life of Christ within us shows that we belong to a family and a country, a generation that belongs to God. Therefore, we must behave like that because the seed of the Lord is in us. Consequently, whatever cannot be found in Jesus Christ must not be found in us. Our lives are in the image of Jesus as believers, meaning we cannot take the grace of the Lord in vain. As the Scripture asks, “Shall we continue in sin, and expect grace to abound? God forbid”. We cannot take the grace of God for granted because we think, “Oh yeah, I’m in the image of God.” The image and likeness of God do not live in sin.
The consecration of that image is vital. It is the devil who lives in perversion and compromise. As believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot afford to pervert our consecration. It is the image of God, the likeness of God, and the behaviour of God, the DNA of God that is in us. We must live according to that standard and cannot afford to be out of it.
Living a life consecrated unto the Lord is a continuous commitment. It means aligning our actions, thoughts, and behaviours with the image of Jesus Christ. By doing so, we reflect His nature and fulfil our divine purpose. Let’s embrace this calling and live out our faith authentically. We need to show the world what it truly means to reflect the image of God.
