Episode 21 - Made To Reflect God’s Image

If you’ve ever wondered why you keep repeating the same patterns even when you “know better,” the deeper question might be identity. We take a slow, practical look at who God says we are and how that shapes everything from our relationships to our choices under pressure. Using Genesis 1:26-27, we talk about being made in the image of God, created for relationship with him, and entrusted with real influence in the world. 

We also dig into the surprising meaning of “rule” in the Bible. Instead of control or status, biblical authority is meant for the flourishing of others. That reframes everyday life: parenting, friendship, work, and even being a neighbor become places where we can reflect the kingdom of God through agape love, kindness, mercy, and steady goodness. We share why kindness resonates so deeply today, and how a life that values people can quietly preach the gospel without a microphone. 

From there we challenge a common label many Christians carry around: “sinner” as a primary identity. The New Testament repeatedly calls believers “saints,” and that shift changes how we understand conviction, repentance, and spiritual formation. Conviction is not meant to crush you; it exposes what’s false so God can invite you into life. We connect this to Psalm 37:4, the problem with “follow your heart,” and why delighting in the Lord comes before chasing desires. 

Finally, we bring it down to street level with Dallas Willard’s insight about desire not belonging behind the wheel, and we talk forgiveness as one of the clearest ways we mirror God’s character. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Where We’re Going

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, listeners. This is Scott here with my sister Amy, and welcome again to our podcast entitled In It Together, where Amy and I talk about how we're trying to live our lives to follow Jesus' teaching and live according to the kingdom of God here in the world. And the last over the last several weeks, we've talked about a number of different things, but more specifically, we had an episode a couple weeks ago about some of the virtues of God, where we just come to before him and we put these virtues, we look at him in view of this virtue of that he is good and that he is kind and that he is noble and that he is loving and that he is wise. And we just went through a long list of Amy and I just kind of sharing those with you as an as a time to be able to sit and come before him and just declare the goodness of who he is. And one of the things we also talk about is discipleship, where we're living to become like Jesus in every way possible. And and then this past, you know, I think week or so, we talked about how do we, you know, what is living as a disciple look like when we in, you know, come across hardship or argument or tension or conflict in our life. And and so this week we're we're gonna kind

Shifting From God’s Virtues To Us

SPEAKER_00 1:25

of continue a little bit of a flow there, Amy. Tell the our listeners what we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yes, today we're talking about who we are. So we've spent overall episodes kind of with this theme about who God is, and then how we can live out the attributes of God, the goodness of the spirit of God within us. But today we're really gonna look at who we are, who God made us to be, and who he says that we are as his followers.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yeah. And so, you know, this is something that I think is really helpful, valuable. If we're gonna try to figure out or understand what it is that we're doing and living a life toward God, then, you know, we need to understand who he created us to be.

Made In God’s Image To Rule

SPEAKER_00 2:20

So, you know, one of the key verses that I talk to our sailors about a lot is Genesis 1, verse 26 and 27. This is like the first mention of mankind in the creation story. And if we look at the first, that first verse, verse 26, we hear God say, then God said, Let us make mankind in our image and in our likeness, so that they may rule. And then I'm gonna stop there over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air. But if we stopped at that word rule, like the very first thing that God is saying about mankind is number one, we're made in his image. And then secondly, is that there's a purpose in who we are and what our a role is that he is giving us, and that is to rule. Like, so I think first, who we were created to be are people who live in relationship with God, bearing his image and ruling. Some translations say they were given dominion over the birds of the you know, air and the fish of the sea. But we were given a task, we were given a work to do, and that work was ruling. And so when we look at that word rule, the Hebrew term is Radha. And the term, if you you know, kind of dig into this, one of the pillars of this term is to rule over, right? To have uh, you know, again, kind of this level of dominion. But there's this aspect where we're the in the kingdom, government or governing or ruling is to govern for what is what is good for the flourishing of others. So, like biblical authority is an authority that exists for the flourishing of others, which, Amy, as you remember, that's very similar, almost sounds absolutely parallel to how what we talk about when we talk about love, like agape. Agape love is a love that wants and wills what is good for another, regardless of whether or not there's a cost to self. And biblical rule, this raga, is an authority that exists for the benefit and for the flourishing of other people. Now, we have all seen rulers be different than that, right? I mean, we live in a world where authority and rulers and governments and everything else that you know have all sorts of problems. We don't necessarily see them, seeing them or leaders acting in a way that is looking for the benefit of others, and that is their primary piece. But that is a primary piece for who God created you and I to be.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Right, right. So important.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

So I think one of the things that I run into a lot is that people imagine, and I've been guilty of this as well, like we have to be given a position in order to, you know, feel like we have an authority over something. So Amy is a mom, you know, you have you, especially as Kate was younger, you had an authority in her life, right? You had a role and a purpose. And so as a neighbor, right? Does being a neighbor mean that I have rule or authority over the person living next to me? It absolutely does not, but it does mean that there is a responsibility that I have in being the person who lives next door. And that is an authority, whether we recognize it in the standard sense or not. That is a role to play. That is an image that I reflect as they imagine me or consider me or interact with me. And so there's a responsibility that I have. And that's what we're getting to today is we're not talking about the elected official, although it includes them, and we're not talking about the boss in the office, although it affects them. We're talking about every human being was created with a role to have influence in other lives, and that influence should be, according to the kingdom, to want what is flourishing or what is good for them.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Fair right, totally, and we and we're ruling it's important to uh to realize we're we're

Authority As Serving A Neighbor’s Good

SPEAKER_01 7:05

ruling with God. Like we're ruling with the spirit of God within us, we're ruling with him, we're joining him in this.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Right. Yeah, it's not a moral standard that we're living up to, it's a relationship that we're joining him in. It's like, as I shared it with the sailors, you know, this is like our role is the moon. Like the moon does not produce a light onto the earth on its own, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

But the moon, you know, just go out on a clear full night, and it absolutely is illuminating and giving light to the dark world at nighttime. And but it's just reflecting that. And that's our role is that we are to reflect and to give light that comes from God into the world. And that reflection should be good for everybody that is in existence around us, right? To everybody that we know, to everybody we're in contact with. And that's good news. That's part of the good news of the gospel is that when the gospel, you know, becomes real and alive in our hearts and in our lives, then it's good for everyone around us. And that is who we were created to be. Like, so imagine yourself like as a governor over a community. Like, how would you live as governor over this community? And I think if we consider imagining things in this order, like, well, then if you saw trash, you know, that blew up in your neighbor's yard and you're walking down the street, you know, what would you do?

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Hopefully you would just pick it up.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

You go pick it up because you wanted to do what was good for your neighbor. And it wasn't, it didn't matter that it was a cost to your time or yourself to do it. Your primary interest was to want what was good for them, right? And so what might life look like if one of our primary realities was this is who I was created to be, and this is where I find my greatest identity in being a person who is reflecting the nature and the virtues of God in my everyday life.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Right. So this goes back to you when we were talking about who God is, and uh He is good, everything about Him is good, and so if we are created in His image to bear His image to the world, then that's how we would live, would be doing good things, being good like God. So sometimes that might be being generous, it might be sharing, it might be wanting good for other people. It it could flesh itself out in a million different ways, but this is why what we think about God is so important because if we don't think God's good, then why would we try to be good?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Right. Yeah, if we think of God as a person who is sitting on the throne in judgment, mad at people, then what are we liable to reflect?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

We're gonna we're gonna judge people

Kindness As A Daily Spiritual Practice

SPEAKER_00 10:55

and we're gonna be mad and we're gonna be angry when they're not doing what we think they ought to do. So, but when that's not who we understand God to be, and it's not who you and I understand God to be, because it's not who he is, then suddenly there comes becomes a conflict within us. Well, then why am I sitting on a throne judging people and being mad at them when they're not doing what I'm wanting to do?

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Right. And just to clarify, just to clarify, I mean, there is scripture that does explain that God is the righteous judge. We're not saying that that's not true. We're talking about an attitude towards people that is just annoyed with people.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

100% right. And we're in this season of God expressing mercy that triumphs over this judgment, right? And so we are people to be merciful even when they are not acting in a way that is that is right. So, you know, I mean, one of the things that you and I have talked a lot about that we haven't mentioned on the show is is Alan Levi's book, Theo of Golden, right? Alan was an acquaintance of ours when we lived in Columbus, an author, number one book on New York Times bestseller list right now. And, you know, in listening to Alan talk about in an in one of the interviews, as uh, I think it was with Katie Couric, he he was saying, you know, there's really never a moment or a time when we shouldn't seek to be kind. Right. And that's not really the world that we live in today. There's a lot of people out there that kindness maybe is an afterthought or something that only happens when they're giving away a Christmas gift. They're being kind or gentle in some way, but you know, ultimately it should be a virtue that we aspire to have present in our lives. And that's what you see in the in the character in the book, Theo, is that there is such a welcomed kindness. And there's a reason why the book became a number one bestseller. And I think it's because, from my biased opinion, I think in large part it's because there's a lot of there are there's a lot of the love and the care and the kindness of God being expressed in this character of Theo. And the world has been hungry to see it. And so it was captured in a character in a book. But I think more so, you know, you could, if you knew Alan or if you knew some of his story of how he lives, I think you would see it captured in his character and how he lives. That he goes over in the mornings to the local public high school just to greet kids, right? And to thank the janitor for making this a beautiful place for people to come to, for the kids to come to during the day. Like he's a person who reflects the virtues and the goodness of God. And I'm not trying to exalt Alan, I am trying to point out how beautiful life could be and can be when we actually adhere to the very things that Jesus came to invite us back to, that is, bearing his image in the world.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Right. And I think something you're saying about his example is how he values other people. And God values us. Specifically,

Saints Not Sinners And The Gift Of Conviction

SPEAKER_01 14:35

God I think there's a really important narrative that we can talk about here. That's how God sees us as those who follow Christ. That we he calls us in the Bible saints. But far too often I think that we call ourselves sinners. Like we see ourselves through all of our failures, where as God sees as the potential for who he made us to be as his image bearer. So he's constantly through the writings all through the New Testament referring to us as saints. Like I was curious about it. And I think that this actually happens more than 60 times versus a lot. I think there's one time that Paul refers to himself as the foremost sinner, but the most theologians would say he's really not talking about the prison. He's talking about who he used to be before his encounter with Christ. So basically, I mean zero times. Zero times does the Bible refer to followers of Christ as sinners. It always refers to them as saints.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

And it's not that we're incapable of sinning, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

I mean, we we very much are. In fact, that's one of the things that I wanted to bring up in this piece is like so often, you know, we're talking about trying to discover and live and understand, and in this case, communicate what we're what we're discovering about how to live, how now then do we live? How do we live according to what Jesus taught? And how do we engage the change and engage the life that Jesus came to give, right? One of the things that I talk to Sayers about a lot, and I can't remember whether or not we've mentioned on the podcast or not, is like the gospel is always, you know, doing a work to expose, like to expose the things that are not according to who we were created to be, but not for the purpose of exposing them, for the purpose of inviting them into inviting us into life. Right? Right. And so where we find ourselves, you know, not being kind. So we'll use kindness, you know, since that's what we already referred to here, like not being kind. Well, like a conviction is very beautiful when we're not being kind because now our unkindness is being exposed, and we're we're now in a position to potentially recognize that God's inviting us toward change, repentance, changing our thinking, changing our ways, changing, you know, from how we used to live according to the old self and now this new self according to the spirit that he wants to enable and empower us to live that is so different than just us trying to be good people or this being some moral standard. It's like, no, it's a life with him, joining him and reflecting him in kindness, and he actually gives us a heart to be kind beyond where we were before that conviction, right? So I even see conviction to be a beautiful, amazing word

Delight In The Lord And New Desires

SPEAKER_00 18:20

when we understand what's happening. Like this exposing is good. So one of the things that one of the verses I think that really stands out to me when we talk about this is Psalm 37:4. In that psalm, we hear the Lord saying, you know, delight yourself in the Lord in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Right? This seems to be a a passage in scripture that really exposes so much of what I think we're caught up to in our culture that wants to steal, kill, and destroy the image of who we can be in Christ and how we live. And so, what I mean by that, if you look at this passage, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Like, what is the person's responsibility in that passage? Like, Amy, I'm asking you that question.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

To delight in the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Okay, and what's God's role in that passage?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

To give us the desires of her heart.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Okay, so that's almost counter-cultural because we have a more or less a philosophy here in the West to, well, we need to pursue the desires of our heart, right? That's the most important thing. And so you need to go do what you think is right and what you desire, and whatever you desire is gonna be good. You do you do you, and you do what's good and what's right according to you. And I, you know, I just had 25 plus sailors in my house Friday night, and I asked him that question. How many of you would raise your hand where you know somebody or you have been somebody where you just did the desires of your heart and it turned into a train wreck? And almost everybody raises their hand, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yeah, we've all been there.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

We've all been there, and so the desires of our heart are not what we're supposed to run after. What we're supposed to run after is to delight ourselves in the Lord, and then what does the Lord do? He becomes an active, present, facilitating presence and power in our life to give us what our deepest desires are, and we might not even have known what those were. But guess who did?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Right. I mean, this is like a great case, and I'm being funny when I say this, but like where the Lord is so tricky. Like he just says, You come delight me. And then he changes our heart for our desires to be his desires. So like he he kind of ribs us these fleshly desires. It's very tricky. We just focus on him, delight in him, and he does this like magic trick that totally changes our hearts.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

And and it's almost like, I mean, just imagine, it's almost like he put those desires in our heart, and he knew what they were. Like they were a treasure chest deep down in our heart that only he had the key and access to to open and reveal. Almost almost like he knew us before we were created in our mother's womb.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Imagine that.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Imagine that. Almost like he actually knows more about us than we know about us. Right. And it's as though he is going to unlock and bring forth those deep desires. To give to us as we come to him and trust him, right? I mean, there's so much about how we live this life according to the kingdom, where Jesus is inviting us, exposing where we don't trust and inviting us to trust.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

And like we talk a lot about, do we believe in Jesus?

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

The fact that Jesus believes in me. Like, but he believes in me because he made me. And because he knows who he made me to be or you to be. He knows the potential that he created us to have, to to be like him, to represent him, to other people, to to to bring his kingdom on earth. He knows all that. He believes in that. He knows that his spirit lives within us and has tremendous power to do these things. I think sometimes we just don't believe in ourselves enough to believe what he says about us. It's true.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Right. And let's keep it clear that like in and of ourselves, we don't have the capacity to reflect and bring light onto the world. It's right that we're doing it with him and that he does it in us and through us. But he created us, he like, he created us to be a funnel for that to flow through. And so we're returning to the image of who we were created to be when we're reflecting that very those very virtues of God. Like when we find ourselves, you know, running after our desires rather than, you know, first and foremost, delighting in the Lord and trusting Him, you know, then we're gonna, it's it's like, I love

Desire Off The Wheel And Forgiveness

SPEAKER_00 24:20

how Dallas Willard puts it, you know, and I'm gonna put it in my own language. You know, Dallas says, you know, it it's desire really never had God, God does not intend for desire to sit behind the wheel of your life. Like when it does, there's gonna be a crash. Desire belongs in the back seat, you know, locked up in, you know, a kid's seat kind of thing where they can't get out. Like desire gets to go along in the car for the ride, but it needs to submit and has to submit to what is good. Like good is what sits behind the wheel. And when desire submits to what is good, then desire has found its place. God created us to have desires. That's not a bad thing. We should have a desire to seek him and to want him and to not be so selfish, right? But one of the issues that we have, Amy, is like, well, because of this fallen nature, we have desires for things that aren't good, right? And so, you know, pick any one of the lists of things that might not be good for us. You know, the Lord says, don't be drunk on wine, but instead be filled with the spirit. Like, it's good to have a desire, you know, to be filled with the spirit, but don't find that pleasure in from wine, right? Find it from the spirit. Like, what about when someone does something wrong to us? And like, how many times have we sinned or done things that were wrong according to God or to God? Like, does he what does he do to us? What does he do for us? He forgives us. And so when we find ourselves in a situation where someone has done something wrong or against me, why is it so hard? Why like I don't want to forgive them, but scriptures command me to forgive them. Now, why would scriptures command me to do what I don't want? Because it's that nature within me that doesn't want to be like God. I don't want to forgive this person, and when that is the case and I'm unforgive, unforgiving, then that functions is like a chain, you know, a ball and chain in my life, and I'm bound to this thing of unforgiveness, and that's caused our soldier problems. But when we're when we're choosing to be like him and therefore choose, not because I feel like it in the moment, but that I choose to be like him and forgive, guess what is gonna happen? Good. Like good is going to come from that in one way or another, because God is going to work that out, that it works out to be good. And we're following him and we're reflecting him. He forgives us. Why in the world can we not forgive others? We're not seeking, you know, the counsel of how we feel in order to forgive, we're seeking the counsel of God's truth and his very virtue and nature. And based on how he has forgiven us, who are we not to forgive those who have sinned against us?

unknown 27:34

Right?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Right. When we're delighting in him, we're thinking about how much he's forgiven me. And like we're we're letting our thoughts go there. And then it makes it really hard to not want to forgive somebody else, you know, because he's forgiven us so much. But if I let my thoughts just dwell on the wrong, well, then that's when you stumble into self-justification and all those things. But delighting in the Lord is the part that our in ethical agents.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

I got a feeling that this is gonna get brought

Learning A Radically Different Way

SPEAKER_00 28:25

up again in the next few weeks. But, you know, there's a there's a whole nother way to live, listener. And that's part of what we're discovering and part of why we're doing this podcast is just to try to encourage you to imagine, like we're learning to imagine what life can be like and how to live it that is so different than how the world has taught us to live it and how we've been guilty of living it for so long. And I know that I can say that it's a radically different way in which to live. It's a radically different perspective that I find myself having as I'm looking to the spirit and asking him, who do you want to be if you're me, if you're living your life in me and through me right now? Like Jesus, I want you to be you in me right now. And that always ends up looking like forgiving or being kind or gentle or humble or offering a moment of wisdom or encouraging another person. They're all things that reflect the goodness of God in the world. And Amy, that's why we're here and what we're while we're having the conversation is we're both finding life and these things being exposed and recognizing that there's an invitation that comes with that.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Right. We don't we have not perfected this. And I mean, we would not want anyone to think that like this is simple. It's it the concepts maybe aren't as simple, but like it's uh a lot of times these are things that

Final Encouragement And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 30:05

we have to wrestle out with God. Right. And there's value in uh so we're just we're just here to have the conversation and encourage one another and encourage anybody out there to listen.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Well, we hope you guys have a great week. Hopefully, this has been some food for thought in what it's like to uh to kind of cross the line and step into the life that God created you to have and the life that He died on the cross to invite you into. So if you guys have a great week, we're glad that you're here with us and go reflect the image of God in a in a unique way of who you are today. Have a great week. Take care.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

See ya.