CHAPTER 2

Stamped with God’s Image

  1.   Fill in the blank: God made us in his [Your Notes]. (See Genesis 1:26.) What does this imply about humans in comparison to the rest of God’s creation?

  2.   What are some godlike attributes we all have?

  3.   Scripture says, “We . . . are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). If we are already created in God’s image, what does it mean that we are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory?

  4.   We often look to people or things rather than to God to define us, to give us a sense of identity. In what or whom do you try to find your identity?

  5.   Talking about the love he has for his unborn granddaughter, Max makes the comparison that God loves us simply because we bear his image. Do you find this easy or hard to believe, and why?

  6.   Throughout our lives other people try to tell us who we are.

       •   Has anyone ever falsely labeled you? If so, how did this affect the way you saw yourself?

       •   If not, have you ever falsely labeled someone else? What were the consequences?

  7.   To combat the labels others have given us, it helps to look at who the Bible says we are. Read the following passages and consider what they say about your own identity. What truths do they point out that contradict false labels you’ve accepted about yourself?

            “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal. 4:7 NKJV).

            “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJV).

            “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt. 6:25–26 NKJV).

            “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

            And in Your book they all were written,

            The days fashioned for me,

            When as yet there were none of them.

            How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

            How great is the sum of them!” (Ps. 139:16–17 NKJV).

  8.   Because God is the creator of all people, we all bear his image.

       •   How does knowing that all people are his image bearers affect the way you see others and interact with them?

       •   How could this change the way you interact with even the most difficult people in your life?

  9.   Think of someone you know who lives out this truth of being an image bearer of God.

       •   How does this person reflect God?

       •   Using this person as inspiration, how could you live as an image bearer today?