“Imago Dei” means “the Image of God,” and it is used to describe us as human beings. We are God’s creation, and Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” We often struggle with what this means, because God is a spirit and has no body as we do.

We are a reflection of God. We have mirrors that reflect our image. It cannot be a perfect duplicate of us and some things are lost in the reflection. God has given us many of His attributes, but none of them are a perfect representation of God Himself. Some of His attributes that we are better able to reflect include being loving, forgiving, compassionate, merciful, caring, kind, reasonable, logical, truthful, creative, and artistic. Sadly, through the fall, these have become corrupted, but we are still able to use these attributes in our daily lives to honor God. We can love each other. We can forgive each other. We can have compassion for each other, and we can know truth.

The attributes which we are not able to reflect represent God’s infinite self—His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. He is also Holy, Holy, Holy! This is His only attribute that is raised to the third degree. In the English language, this is the same as holy, holier, holiest! God is the holiest, but we are still called to be holy as He is holy.

As we face our daily struggles, we often forget that we are Imago Dei and that every person around us is Imago Dei. We need to remember that we are made in God’s image, and we can overcome the challenges set before us. We also need to remember this about the cashier who frustrates us or the person in the store who is dirty and smells different or the person who cuts us off in traffic. Each of them are made in the image of God, and we need to treat them with respect. As followers of Christ, we are to love one another and treat each other with respect.