Snip by snip we perfectionists cut the outline of a cardboard image with a perma-smile and fragile paper coverings to fit the rage of the moment. But there’s a deep flaw in that way of living. Genesis 1 reveals God’s radically different plan for His children. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'” (Gen. 1:26). God crafted us to reflect His image, not to create our own.
One of the beauties of bearing the image of the One True God is our individuality. He lovingly creates each image bearer with her own diversity and uniqueness. He’s not a cookie-cutter kind of God. He’s the God who created over 17,000 colorful, fluttering species of butterflies when a utilitarian god would have created a single pollinator. If we’ll bear God’s image instead of trying to create our own, we can live in the abundance of the verse above. God uses His image in our lives to deliver a breathtaking variety of personalities, heart-nourishing love, satisfying work and rich provision.
Excerpt from Breaking Up With Perfect by Amy Carroll. Amy writes devotions for Proverbs 31 Ministries’ Encouragement for Today which are sent out daily to over 750,000 people worldwide. She is a contributing author for The Reason We Speak, the NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible for Women and Encouragement for Today. Amy also is the founder and director of Next Step Speaker Services, a coaching service for Christian speakers.
