Created In The Beautiful Image Of God

We are all created in the beautiful image of God and when we learn to see ourselves with the potential God sees in us, He gives us the ability to ALSO see it in others! And then—we learn to encourage others to become ALL that they can be for His glory. 

What does this look like?

In October of 2019, a young man came to see me in the office. For the sake of confidentiality we’ll call him “Mike.” Mike was in trouble with the law and wanted me to represent him. However, during our conversation, the Holy Spirit urged me to share with him God’s gift of salvation. But he was not ready to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior; rather, he was more interested in his legal problem being solved. He wanted God’s goodness and help without having to make Him Lord of his life. I understood this, for I too, for many years, had resisted being born again for the very same reason. But I made it clear to Mike I was not going to represent him just so that he could continue to be a slave to drugs. If he didn’t want to surrender to Christ, I wasn’t the attorney for him. He was honest with me and declined my representation because he wasn’t ready to “do the Jesus thing.” 

I prayed with him and he left.

Almost a year later, I was talking with a close relative of his and was told Mike wasn’t doing so well. He’d been sitting in jail for over a month and was being abused. He was scared. I told her that if she happened to talk to Mike and he wanted a visit by someone “doing the Jesus thing,” to let me know and I’d arrange it. A few days later I received a text. He very much wanted me to visit him.

By no small miracle, I was able to visit him within days. I had a lot to do that day, but the loudest voice I heard was the Holy Spirit—urging me to go see him. So there we sat, in a room the size of a small closet, looking at each other through plexiglass and God’s Spirit confirmed in me—that Mike was ready. As we talked, Mike, as a way to convince himself that he already knew God, told me of how “God had answered his prayers.” He was lying to himself. I listened and looked at him sitting in chains in the small box of a room. I said, “you know that even the devil believes that God is real—right?”

People have to understand that they are lost before they can be saved, so I finally asked: “Do you remember a time when you believed in Jesus for eternal salvation? Have you ever asked Him to be your LORD and Savior and surrendered 100% of yourself to Him???” He hung his head and said: “I don’t, but—I am ready now.” Right there, with our fingers touching through the small slit in the plexiglass, we prayed and he asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. When we were done he said with a huge grin: “Today, October 3, 2020, is the day I accepted Christ.” I knew he would never forget it.

I wouldn’t either—there was nothing more important that I did that day.

Now the ONLY reason I was a part of this eternal transaction on October 3, 2020, is because God had been changing me. I was beginning to see others as HE does. The “old Kimberly” would have never made it to the jail to see Mike because before Jesus became my greatest love, I was way too judgmental and busy to care about anyone except “my own people.” You see, when we start practicing DAILY surrender to God, He transforms us and gives us the ability to see across economic, racial, social, political, or national barriers. We see people as God does. The same way an artist looks at paint and a blank canvas and envisions what it can become, God doesn’t just see our sin and failure; He sees the beauty of someone created in His Image and the potential we have IN HIM. 

The ultimate sacrifice of Jesus is proof of His belief in the beautiful potential of humanity.

If we allow Him, GOD will transform us to believe in others the way He believes in us!  Jesus died so that we could become all that our CREATOR envisioned for us. He looks past our shroud of sin and sees our potential for glorious goodness. His mercy and love bought our ticket to salvation so we may soar like eagles in glorious freedom!

But God, who is RICH in MERCY, because of His GREAT LOVE with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

For by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the GIFT of God, NOT of WORKS, lest anyone should boast. 

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭10‬

We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.

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