“Who has the right to label you?” Pastor Andy Stanley asked that question to his audience filled with middle schoolers one day. He continued his message by explaining that a creator is the one who has a right to label something. When it comes to human beings, we know that God is our creator, and because of that, He is the One who has the right to label us. As we step into 2023, let’s focus on the reminder that we get to look to God as our Creator for our identity, and nowhere else.
Genesis 1 tells us the story of how God created the world and everything in it, including human beings. It also tells us about the first thing God the Creator said about everything He created when He created them. The creation of the entire world was a 7-day process. At the end of each day, God evaluated what He created and called it “good.” This is not goodness in the sense of morality, but rather goodness in the sense of being pleasing, acceptable, and even desirable to God. The very last part of creation was the creation of humanity. Verse 27 gives us a very specific detail for how God created humans. It tells us that He created humans “in His own image.” This truth is really special because nothing else in all creation was created in God’s image.
After God evaluated His creation on the 7th day, He said something slightly different, but extremely significant about His creation. As He observed the new addition to His created world, human beings, He said that His creation was “very good.” He was delighted and particularly pleased when He created humans. As the Creator, God, of course, is the one who had the right to label the first humans, and He said that they were very good.
Because you are God’s creation, this means that He is also the one who can label you. You were made in His image, and as His creation, you are good. This means that You are pleasing, accepted, and desirable to Him. Will you believe that what He says about you is true?
Begin making a list of all of the things that God says about you, starting today with “made in the image of God” and “good.” Keep it in the Notes app on your phone. Pull out this list whenever you begin to doubt your sense of value or worth, or when you are tempted to look somewhere else to find your identity. Let what God says about be what defines you and nothing else.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
27 So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.
31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day."
