Why did God create us in his image and likeness? Why did he create his goodness and beauty within us? Listen to Ephesians 1:4-6. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will,for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved."

But the sad thing is that even though God created us good and sees his love and life reflected in us, many of us come into awareness later on in life, not of our goodness but of our unworthiness. Somewhere we have the perception that we are not good, that we are not lovable, that we have to earn the love of others; that we are flawed. For some of us we are broken and wounded.


But God who is love, who is good, desired his original plan to be fulfilled. To show us how much he loves us and how love can transform us and enable us to see the truth of our self-worth, he chose to give us many signs of his love—the greatest of which is himself becoming one like us in all things but sin. (To be continued)