When your heavenly Father infused his identity into your human nature, it was an act of love.
I have four sons, and as a father who loves his sons mightily, I want them to have things in common with me. I gave my last name to all of them, my first name to one of the them, and my middle name to another. In each of them over the years, I have seen in different ways reflections of myself, and at those moments I have been pleased. For example, I competed in gymnastics, and each of my sons competed in gymnastics, and I enjoyed that they did. It is loving to want to have things in common.
It is also a loving thing to want to give gifts to another person. Giving yourself is the highest expression of loving. This loving, self-giving spirit explains the desire of parents to have children in their own image. Fathers and mothers want to give their very selves to their children in a unity greater than any other: the unity of identity. Parents want to give their name to their children. They want to give their strengths to their children, strengths like beautiful eyes, strong stature, intelligence. They want to look at their children and see something of their best selves.
God gives us this desire because this is his desire. This desire to pass on one’s identity, to have an enduring name, to have a lasting posterity in one’s children and children’s children, is also the result of a healthy, righteous self-respect. God has perfect self-respect. In love, he wants to pass his glory on to us. He wants to see his glory in us. This is love for others mixed with proper self-respect.
God’s image
Scripture reveals in many places God’s loving desire to share his identity with us:
“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.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26–27 ESV).
“We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).
“Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).
You “have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10).
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
“You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen humans don’t want to resemble their Father. They want to leave home and be their own person.
God’s way: He delights to see himself in us. When he infused his identity into human nature, it was an act of love.
Life principle: One of the priceless gifts God has lovingly given you is his identity. You bear the image of God in your human nature. Cherish and respect that gift. More than anything else that you are or that you accomplish, the image of God stamped on your nature gives you value and significance. It ensures God’s love for you.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)