Ephesians 4:24: Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. The image of God is shockingly absent in all other world religions. In Judaism it is an unfulfilled image. Images of God are suspect in every way in Islam, so to examine what it means to be an image bearer would border on heresy. Hinduism contains many, many gods, so whose image would you bear? Nobody special or Sovereign. In Buddhism there is no real God, so there is no image to bear. Only Christianity offers us the opportunity to explore being made in the image of a knowable God.
“If man is made by God, formed specifically in the image of his Creator, then a certain level of respect is his due on the grounds of shared humanity, a humanity that shares the Divine Image that the Bible claims was impressed upon each individual since our first ancestor’s conception. This level of respect due to each individual human is outlined in the legal, health, economic, and political systems of the West, and wherever that level of respect is denied is the place where those institutions are considered to have failed.” All Chaos on the Western Front, Henry Olearcek.
This is where we get the very idea of the dignity of man. Certainly not from any ideas about evolution. If we randomly exploded into being, our existence is meaningless. But if we were spoke it being, our existence is purposeful. If natural selection made us into people, the handicapped, different, the damaged, and those who consistently make bad choices, do not belong with the rest of us. If we are lovingly created for relationship, no one is left out of His plan. Do you see why what we believe matters?
Our very legal and medical systems are, and must be to flourish, based on the concept that we are created in the Divine Image. Human flourishing requires according that kind of respect to our fellow humans.
Carmen Joy Imes, author of Being God’s Image, and an Old Testament scholar at Biola, describes studying the meaning of being made in God’s image through the lens of an ancient middle eastern person. They would have understood that we are walking, talking three dimensional images of God, that represent him in, kind of bizarrely, the same way an idol in an ancient pagan temple represented their deities. There is a misunderstanding among Christians that says, when Adam and Eve sinned, we all lost that image of God; it was destroyed.
Carmen Imes describes it this way. She says, “I would describe it as the loss of the glory that’s supposed to come along with being the image of God. And the best way I’ve found to explain it is that every one of us in our core human identity is the image of God.
But all of us live out of alignment with that identity. If we were living in alignment, then there would be a kind of glory or honor that goes along with living who we are, being who God made us to be. But because we live according to lies, and we’re out of alignment with that true identity, there is a loss of glory. There’s a loss of the honor that should be there for human beings, but often isn’t. Because we end up, instead of representing God, trying to represent ourselves, or climb the ladder or gain glory for ourselves, instead of deflecting the glory to God. An image in a temple doesn’t receive the glory for itself, it reflects it to the deity that it’s supposed to represent.”
But what does this mean for children? We are going to examine the different ways we, as humans, reflect God’s image. This is the reason we emphasize character develop in children. They are capable of reflecting the attributes of God and we train them to do so: Act with wisdom, kindness, and patience. Tell the truth, do justice, and love mercy. We are born with a desire to learn and imitate:
“The nature of a child and education come together, either to mar the child or to help the child flourish. When a child is not taught according to his or her nature, it is like cutting against the grain, dulling the knife and marring the wood. Yet when a child’s instruction aligns with his or her nature, the process is beautiful and the child thrives. Parents and teachers must understand the nature of a child so that their teaching can harmonize with that nature and cultivate him or her into a virtuous and flourishing adult”. Danny Breed
Children are creative, like our Creator, God. In fact, this is the first thing we learn about God when we open the Bible. What is the first verse in the Bible? “In the beginning God CREATED the heavens and the earth.” Human creativity follows quickly, in the very next chapter. In Genesis 2:19 God brings all of the animals to Adam so he can name them, a creative activity.
Even little children name things: dolls, pets, toys. My 7 year walked in from outside with a bowl in her hand and said, “Mom, I want to introduce you to Phil, Alice, Lennie, Bob, Tom, Zach, and Olivia.” She held out a tupperware of snails that she had pulled off the front of the house. And kids do this because they have imaginations. God created us with curiosity and a world to discover. Let them explore and discover. This is in a child’s nature; that is God’s plan for them. Kids don’t yet know what has been done before, what’s in the realm of possibility, and that’s what makes them so delightful to listen to and interact with. Children are full of potential, for great wisdom – that should be the goal of education.
Think back, how did your babies learn to walk and talk? Through imitation. That is the primary way children learn. Why do you think they do things you tell them not to do. Many times they watch you do them. How do we guide them?
“There must be a guide who is worthy of imitation and can guide them in their discovery. The guide must bear those virtues that a child has the capacity for. Thus as the children learn, they learn in relationship with a model of what they are to become and what they are to master in their education. There is a harmony to the learning environment between the wonder of discovery, imitation of arts to be mastered, and the relationship with a virtuous adult who is worthy of imitation and can guide the child in their potential for Christ likeness.” – Danny Breed
My 8 year old nephew was staring at my sister’s head. All of the sudden he reaches over and plucks a strand of hair off her head. She’s like, “Ow! Why did you do that?” “Mom,” he says, “how do you do a DNA test?” Son, why do you need to do a DNA test. He says, “I know I came out of you.” He points to his Dad over on the other side of the room and whispers, “I am trying to figure out how this guy’s involved!” This is the hilarious curiosity of kids!
Being created in God’s likeness doesn’t mean we are little gods. God created ex nihilo – from nothing. He spoke and it became. We do not have that capacity. Our creations are creative rearranging of God made materials. What does an artist create from – materials, mediums, yes, but fundamentally colors – light and dark – created by God on day 1 of creation. How about musicians? Rearrangement of notes – sound waves created by God. What does a dancer create with? A body created by God on Day 6. J. R. R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, called all writers and artists, sub-creators.
We create intentionally, not randomly. We can imagine something and then take it from a mental concept to actual reality. I saw they we selling painting by animals at a museum. Those are random accidents. The otter is not planning out a landscape. He is given paint and paper in some capacity and the random result is monetized. It is cute and fun. It is not a reflection of God’s character.
“The important thing is that creation is God’s, and that we are a part of it, and being part of creation is for us to be co-creators with (him) in the continuing joy of new creation.” – Madeleine L’Engle
Did you notice the word JOY in there? He delights in His creation and we delight in ours! I will go so far as to say we honor God when fully bear His image. When I refuse to serve God, I am not fully bearing His image and we deny ourselves and the world good that He created us for. That is why James 4:17 tells us, “Anyone who know the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
“It is within my power to either serve God or not to serve Him. Serving Him I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good which I have the power to create.” – Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy admonishes us to serve our purpose by serving God, and thus the world around us. Our culture misunderstands servanthood. This is one of the problems with having our celebrities be INFLUENCERS, NOT CREATORS. Instead of valuing the beauty of an imitator of Christ, we are valuing the person that tells us what to like. And what to consume. Instead of producers, we are primarily consumers.
Here is the second: Age of influencers – all of that edited perfection makes it difficult to take a risk and try. How do we compete with these images?
How to address this? Franky Shaeffer said in, Addicted to Mediocrity: 20th Century Christians and the Arts, “Remember that as a creative person, the important thing is to create. Who sees what you make, where it goes and what it does is a secondary consideration. The first is to exercise the talent God has given you.” That is copying our Creator, not looking for human validation in a changeable world.
So how does creativity work in children? Let’s try a creative exercise. Quick – Draw something on your napkin.
Let’s look at a little doodle of Vincent Van Gogh’s. What do you notice about it? What colors? And what is the weather like? How does it make you feel? Now draw something on your napkin. Was it easier to think of something to draw when your mind was blank OR when you had looked at something inspirational.
This, in a very small way, gives us an example of how creativity works. You can give a child all the colorful, exciting art supplies you can afford – and make no mistake you should do that – but without introducing the child to beauty, they have nothing to imitate. Nothing beautiful in, nothing to think about = either no thinking at all, or thinking about whatever garbage this fickle and transient culture has to offer, which is usually designed to cater to the lowest in taste and make sure you spend money. Taste must be cultivated. Children don’t need twaddle art, they need to be inspired by the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Why do you think Paul says whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phil 4:8) We are created to be imitators, image bearers, reflectors of Divinity. God, our Creator is true, noble righteous, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy! When we see something incredibly well done, creative and reflective of some traits of God, like The Starry Night, or Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto’s, and hear Poe’s The Raven, we recognize the genius, the spark of the divine. All of this beautiful creativity has been marred since the fall of man. It can be used for wickedness and selfishness and needs redemption to be used to full potential.
How do we cultivate these tastes in children? They must be exposed to them, the earlier the better. My toddler devotional Playtime with Jesus, available on Amazon, is a great example of how to do this. Expose them to beautiful art, music, and poetry.
Don’t be afraid to take your children to art museums, to the opera, the ballet, to the orchestra. I start by taking my toddlers to kid’s shows at the Broward Center and Parker Playhouse. Their Smart Stage Matinees are short and affordable. Free first Thursdays at the NSU at MOA. For ages 13-20 check out cultureshockmiami.com.
Side note on art supplies: When it comes to crayons and colored pencils, the cheapest versions are not usually bright colors. And you have to press hard. Opt for the slightly more expensive versions. Instilling an appreciation for art in our children is simple and fun. See my suggestions in my post on art appreciation. Let’s get out there and create for the sheer joy of imitating our Creator!
