What does it mean to be a woman made in the Image of God?

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

In celebration of Women’s Month, we are going to be doing a series of blog posts where women from different walks of life express what it means to bear the image of God in this season. Women’s Month is a celebration of womanhood, what it means to be a woman. But most importantly what does God say a woman is?

The core truth about being a woman is that we were created in the image and likeness of God, though the world may not appreciate nor understand this biblical truth, we are who God says we are. The Bible says a woman shall not live by bread alone. Rather by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, (Matthew 4:4, paraphrased). The outcry of our generation is for women to arise and realize, and come to express who they truly are, the bible says nature is groaning for the true Sons of God to be revealed, and by Sons, it doesn’t speak of gender, but inheritance. So, all nature eagerly waits for you to come to the full knowledge of who you are.

When I think of what it means to bear the image of God, the story of creation is always my point of reference. In the beginning, the bible says God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless, and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. Upon seeing the earth formless and void, God then said let there be light and there was light, this marked the first day (Genesis 1:5). We then read further down, until the third day. After the third day which was the creation of vegetation. God then said, “Let there be light-bearers”, Gen 1:14. Before we reached this point, light already was made manifest on the earth in Gen 1:5, but now there needed to be something that will carry that light.

By definition, a bearer is a thing or a person that carries or holds something, a carrier or courier. For example, when you want to send your friend a parcel, you entrust it to a courier company and their job is to deliver what is sealed on the inside. The sender puts their trust in the courier company to faithfully deliver their parcel. That is who we are in the world, carriers of the nature of God. We are entrusted by God to deliver His nature i.e., character, authority, splendor, and glory into the world, and this manifests differently to every one of us because God himself is multifaceted.

Before you were conceived in your mother’s womb, God knew you. You are not coincidental. I know that many of us did not have the most perfect earth arrival story, nor a glamorous past but that does not make it less true that God knows who you are. And this doesn’t just end at your name, He is intimately acquainted with you. When we look at the genealogy of Jesus, the perfect son of God, we find that He is also called the Son of David, and this appears in many parts of the bible. Jesus was not ashamed to be associated with David, though we learn he was not an all-around perfect man, yet God was pleased to call him a man after His own heart. When we look at the story of David, we learn that he was not His Father's favorite, youngest among 7 brothers, least in his father’s eyes, his relationship with his father was rather strained and difficult yet David was chosen and fully known by God. God did not just stumble upon David, he knew Him even before the foundations of the world, Ephesians 1:4. If we could understand that man’s rejection even if it comes from those closest to us does not mean Gods rejection, the bible says even if everyone else is a liar, God is true, Romans 3:4. See how important it is to look to Jesus as our mirror because when we look to others as a point of reference, we will always see a faint reflection. God is the model of perfection.

When we come to believe that we were created by purpose and for a purpose, this will shift the way we do life. It is through the power of God's Spirit that we can come to the full realization of who we are, the bible says before God called light to manifest, the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep, unless the Spirit of God broods over us, we will only just have knowledge of who we are and not a revelation of who we are. The difference is that someone can tell you God loves you, but through the Spirit that knowledge comes into being, and you become that knowledge. We, therefore, live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth.

In this month of celebrating womanhood, the question is, what will you do with the revelation of who God says you are?

Prayer

Father, I ask that in this season of celebrating womanhood, may your spirit brood over me, until your words are fully formed in me. Until I become who you say that I am. Your word says you are the way, the truth and the life. I ask God that my life would be shaped by every word that comes from your mouth. Help me to show up in this season as who you say I am. In Jesus' Name Amen.