Question: If all or any of this is true, what is our responsibility to ourselves and one another? How should imago Dei (image of God) change how you and I treat our coaches, teammates, ourselves, and those we meet along the way, like the cashier at Walmart? If deep consideration of the imago Dei does not challenge the heart (thinking, feeling, willing), what will?
– Dr. McNeal
As I stand trackside during a recent cross-country and track training day, this is what, in part, I see. I see several sprinters engage their training. On the infield, I see members of the football team engage specific drills. I see one animated “footballer” strutting around with his shorts pulled to his crotch. He struts around, taunting his teammates in boyish fashion. He “gooses” several teammates. They do not seem to care. High testosterone on display.
Meanwhile, one female sprinter starts to capture several “footballers’” attention. She focuses on her workout, oblivious to the growing interest in her presence. Yes, they are checking her out, several nearly stumbling over each other to catch a look. Then there are the bold and foolish ones who make verbal innuendoes toward the sprinter. She does not hear it or does she? But I do.
So, I ponder. Seriously, are these “footballers” showing any respect to the female athlete? Not going to overthink this one – No! Do they know she bears the image of God (imago Dei)? Do they know they bear the image of God (imago Dei)? Do they know that she is someone’s daughter or sister? What is their responsibility to God, others, and self in this context? Oh, here is an easy one: Do they know their teammate “Crotchy” is about to lay the “golden goose” on them?
I feel angry as I wish my voice heard. I feel sad because there is loss. Collectively they lose the opportunity to show respect for the female, themselves, the coaches, and the team. Lots of sadness.
The “footballers” are not my affinity group; thus, I have limited influence. Perhaps someday. They are someone’s son or brother. That said, I do have influence on the several young men in the WPD mentoring groups; they are so “game.”
Question: Again. if all or any of this is true, what is our responsibility to ourselves and one another? How should imago Dei (image of God) change how you and I treat our coaches, teammates, ourselves, and those we meet along the way, like the cashier at Walmart? If deep consideration of the imago Dei does not challenge the heart (thinking, feeling, willing), what will?
– Yep, me again!
So, borrowing heavily from J. S. Duvall’s work, Experiencing God’s Story of Life and Hope, I frame the “Value of Another” talk using the following short mentoring “lesson,” undergirded by more commentary from Duvall and other sources.
How to Appreciate the Image of God
Genesis 1:26-28, 5:1-2, 9:6; James 3:9-10
- What privileges or responsibilities do bearing the image carry?
- How does it make you feel to think you carry the image of God?
- What do you do or how do you live knowing that you carry the image of God? How do you related to others knowing they carry the image?
Principles related to the image of God (J. S. Duvall, Experiencing God’s Story of Life and Hope):
1. All human being (not just Christians) have value and dignity. We are important because of who we are (created as important by God). We are not the mere products of naturalistic evolution. People deserve respect, and human life should be regarded as sacred.
2. We belong to God. We are not our own. We need God and will only find our ultimate fulfillment in God. We are meant to be God’s, not gods.
3. We were created for relationship and community. If we have been created in the image of God who enjoys an eternal fellowship of love, then we too need relationship – with God and other human beings.
4. We have been granted both freedom and responsibility. We are charged with “ruling” and “subduing” creation (Gen. 1:28). We are free to make real choices that affect the direction and destiny of our lives and others’ lives. God intends for us to cooperate with him in faithfully managing creation.
5. We have been created male and female. In an age of gender confusion, we need to know how important gender clarity is to God. We are created to live as either male or female and to interact with the other gender in a complementary partnership.
6. Sin may distort the image, but it does not destroy. Even after human beings chose to sin, they were told not to kill (Gen. 9) or curse (James 3) people because they have been made in God’s image.
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
– C. S. Lewis
Ponder and Press on….