Genesis 1:27, 31 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed.”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
A few months ago, I had the idea for a blog series exploring scriptures that stand out to shape my worldview. We’ll see how far I get into this ‘series’–for all I know, this could be a standalone post! Or it might take another six months for me to drum up the next instalment. Whatever the future brings, I'd like to start at the beginning.
The very beginning.
In that very first beginning of life, the Bible says that “God created mankind in his own image”, and that everything he had made “was very good indeed.” Creativity, order, and the capacity to love are all among the characteristics that we were imbued with from the very first beginning of humanity, as part of this inherent goodness of being made in the image of God.
That means: to be human is to be good. To be human is to be creative, organised (in some fashion, at least!), and able to love. That’s not just me, that’s not just Christians or certain cultures or classes of people. That goes down to the very core of what it means to be human.
But then, of course, there was ‘The Fall’, that whole debacle with the serpent and the apple, a defining moment in history where its very trajectory was changed for the worse. Since then, as Paul describes in Romans, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
That means: to be human is to fall short. To be human is to be broken, messy and selfish. That’s not just the people that feature in my political diatribes after a long day or pedofiles or the driver who just cut me off. ‘The Fall’ has infected the core of every single human.
This infection hasn’t undone God’s creation. They exist together. In every single human. It has often been said that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said it best when he said, “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.”
When I was a teenager, I couldn’t get enough of those classic tales of good vs. evil, watching the goodies defeat the baddies with intellect, power and perhaps some impeccably-timed, unexpected kindness. As I have continued on the path of life, it has been interesting to see these characters with greater complexity, sometimes in their portrayal and sometimes in my own understanding. Each is not simply good or evil, but all are a bit of both.
Like in these portrayals, the real battle doesn’t take place between people, or between groups of people, but rather within each of us. Much of the time, we are swimming against doubt or fear or desire or rage when we are trying to make the best choice, the right choice. To see characters who fight those very battles and come through them for the better can give us the courage to carry on when we need to. Likewise, such portrayals of those who have ‘gone wrong’ can give us a fatalistic view of our own outlooks, and it is important to acknowledge that this can be very damaging indeed.
But this perspective doesn’t just prompt me to look for realistic heroes in epic stories that can help me to strengthen my resolve. It shapes how I think about people who are like me and people who are not like me, humans that we all are. And even in the simplest interactions, it encourages me to have humility as I consider my own heart, and to be deeply aware of the impact that I have on others. Am I building up love and courage in this fellow human, or am I driving this person to bitterness and pain? Am I expressing the image of God or the brokenness of sin today?
I’m not looking for a pat on the back or a pile of shame as I reflect – rather, a realignment to aim for the very best I can be as the human that I am.
But, of course, that's a whole other kettle of fish. Let’s hope I get a chance to write more about that in a future post!
