Why Am I Here?

This writing is a follow up to yesterday’s post. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so before continuing. Click here to read it.  

If you are like me, all your life you have wrestled with the question, “Why am I here?” or “What is my purpose?” Let’s look at a very familiar verse to try to answer that question.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion (rule) over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

What does in mean “in the image of God?” 

1) We are persons (not objects, coins, rocks, etc.) God is a personal God.

We carry characteristics of God –

2) We are loving beings. God is a loving community, a threefold community.

3) We are moral beings. We know what is right. We don’t always do what is right, but we do know what is right. Conversely, we know what is wrong. We sometimes do what we know to be wrong, but we do know it is wrong. God is moral, God is holy.

4) We are creative beings. When we create (make beer, write a post or sermon, paint a picture, cook a meal not simply by following a recipe, add more garlic, use less flour, etc., play the piano, think of an out of the box way to wire a piece of equipment or account for a client’s transaction, help the family of a dying patient in ways that suit their specific situation, lead a group of boys on a weekend campout) we reflect the creative nature of God, who created the whole universe. The only creature who creates are humans, the only beings made in God’s image.

5) And, by being in the image of God, we have value.

That is all background. Now, let me try to answer, “Why am I here?” or “What is my purpose?”

I propose the answer lies in a change in the two-letter preposition, from IN the image of God to AS the image of God. 

The Hebrew preposition for “as” and “like” is the same. “In the image of God” refers to like, likeness – one use of the preposition. “As” can also refer to likeness. This “as” usage would have cultural context to the readers of Genesis. When a king conquered a city, he built a statue of himself in the city, “as his image.” Even if he lived in another province, this image reminded all who entered the city, that the king ruled and reigned in that city.

So, we, made as the image of God, are to take God’s rule and reign wherever we go. We are to be image bearers of God, bringing His rule and reign into the places we go and the things we do and say.

I am called to be an accountant, not just an accountant, but an accountant who brings God’s rule and reign, God’s grace and mercy, God’s shalom, workplace. I am not just to be a husband, dad, grandfather, I am to be a husband, dad, grandfather who brings God’s rule and reign, God’s grace and mercy, God’s shalom into my family. I am called to be a pastor, not just teaching and preaching; I am to be a pastor who brings God’s rule and reign to those I shepherd. I am called to be a friend, a neighbor, any label placed upon, someone who brings, who models, who demonstrates, the rule and reign of God. Now replace me with you, you are made in and as the image of God. 

I believe that change in preposition very clearly answers the question we’ve wrestled with all our lives!  

(“In the image” is not wrong, I just ask you to not be constrained by our modern understandings of the words “in” and “as.”)

Now, again, ask yourself “Why am I here?” or “What is my purpose?”

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