God created us in his image to be with Him and to glorify him. He created us to be in relationship with him. After each stage of creation, God sees that what He has made is good. However, after the creation of humanity—male and female, in His image—God observes that His creation is very good:
Genesis 1:31 (NIV): “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”
God describing humanity as “very good,” is significant. It implies that humanity holds a special place in creation. Created in God’s image (imago Dei), means we reflect aspects of God’s character, such as the capacity for relationship, love, creativity, moral reasoning, and stewardship over creation. Our making amends strengthens the relationship and love that we were created with and for.
When we make amends and become accountable for our actions we are making an attempt to repair and strengthen relationships that have been damaged. However, It is more than that.
Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, demonstrates that this practice of making amends develops humility and compassion while it allows us to grow a deeper relationship with God. Making amends gives us a freedom from the grip of remorse. You know what that feels like. It’s that feeling that, metaphorically or literally, demands our constantly looking over our shoulders to see who or what is chasing us.
Dwight Edwards wrote that our concerns should not focus on what God freed us from but what God freed us for. We were created and freed to be in relationships and to love as God loves us. It is that view that gives us the courage to own our part of conflict and the humility to correct the actions we took that harmed others.
This week let’s focus on why you were created and freed. What were you created for and freed for? It’s not that we are in finance, or sales, or that we are a spouse or parent as those are roles we have been given to live. What we were created and called for might look like being in finance to love others by being honest and helpful in helping them create a healthy financial life. As a dad I see that I was made for being an example to my sons on how to love and to my daughters as an example of a man worth partnering with. Looking at our why in the things God made us for, we can then reflect on the situations and relationships that need us do things differently.
Until next time I would, love God with everything you have, thank Him for all the good and the bad, and talk with Him often.
