By Brother Miichel Lankford
To re-create God in our own image means that people try to overlay or to superimpose THEIR own thoughts attitudes, feelings, beliefs and behaviors, upon God, instead of letting God transform them, so that they match His Character and His Attitudes. Whether people fully understand what they’re doing or not, what they are doing is actually a form of idolatry. It’s the worship of SELF. God’s thoughts are Not our thoughts. His ways are higher than ours.
As It Is Written:
“Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:7–9 NASB95)
Whether they do it on purpose or unintentionally or a combination of the two, only God knows for certain. The reason that people try to re-create God in THEIR own image is so that they can feel more comfortable and more justified in their sin and their shortcomings, instead of overcoming their sins and their weaknesses to exhibit more of God’s Character and Nature. That’s the ultimate reason. The other reason that people do it is that it makes agnostics and atheists feel better about denying the Creator’s existence; because if they assault His Character, and make Him seem no different, no better than the average human being, then believing and following the Almighty Creator seems pointless. Whether people know it or not, it is actually an attack of the adversary against God, to try to blind people’s thinking, so they will continue to obey their sinful nature, and so they will not accept redemption from God and the Savior, (2 Corinthians 4:4; cf. Matthew 13:24-30). It’s all an attempt to make evil sound good, and good sound evil, (Isaiah 5:20-24).
The Bible says God created us in His image and in His likeness, (Genesis 1:26–27). Also, please do not forget that this describes humankind’s condition BEFORE humanity obeyed the devil and fell and to sin, (Genesis 3).
The Bible also gives us numerous passages describing God’s Character, His Nature, Attitude, and Desires, (1 John 1:5; 1 John 4:8; Deuteronomy 32:4; Exodus 34:5–7; and many more).
YHWH Almighty God’s plan and desire was always that human beings would be the crown jewels of His Creation. We were initially created to reflect His Love, His Character and His Attributes. That process got interrupted when we obeyed the adversary instead of obeying God in Genesis. Part of the restoration process is that God through Messiah is working to bring us back to both the relationship with Him, and to our initial character that we had with YHWH before the fall. That is part of what the Holy Spirit is working into Born Again believers, who are called out of the sinful world, and into the Kingdom of God, (John 3:3, 7; Cf. Ezekiel 11:19-20; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Philippians 2:13).
That’s WHY Born-Again believers are called to be, “Imitators of God as OBEDIENT children, (Ephesians 5:1). As part of living in that restoration process that God has begun through Messiah.
That is WHY Born-Again believers are Instructed to be Holy, as YHWH Almighty God is Holy, (which literally means to set things apart in the SAME way that God sets things apart; (1 Peter 1:14-16; Matthew 5:48). That’s all part of taking on the Nature and the Character and attitudes of our Almighty Heavenly Father.
That’s WHY the Promises of God are given in the Bible. Part of the primary functions of God’s promises in the Bible is to transform our character and our nature to align and agree with God’s character and nature, and to redeem us from our own sinful nature and character. That is part of their whole purpose and intent:
As It Is Written:
“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2 Peter 1:3–4 NASB95)
Did you catch it?
God’s promises were given with a clearly stated purpose. All of his promises were given with the purpose of accomplishing two major results.
God gave us His promises to transform our nature and to make us partakers of His Divine Nature and Character.
God gave us His promises, so that we could escape and overcome the corruption that is in the sinful world through lust, sinful passions, and sinful desires.
Can you imagine if we applied the promises of God and use them the way God intended them to be used; how much victory believers would have? It would be amazing.