God's Property

A snapshot from the past.  As a medical student I was standing in a clinic when an old man was pushed in, sitting in a wheelchair. His ragged, dirty clothes were shoved haphazardly and incompletely on his body. He was slumped, grey-stubbled, unkempt, muttering under his breath, vacant. Together with him came a rich, strong stink making me gasp and breath through an open mouth. I turned to one of my medical colleagues and said, somewhat rudely “This is created in the image of God.” I wrote later in my diary, ‘sometimes that is a really hard concept to get my head around’.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea   and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them….. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

There is much talk and concern about the rights of human beings – and rightly so. Humans are not just a unit of production. They’re not a unit of consumption. They are not pawns to be moved about on a political chessboard. But it is important to remember that the basis for human rights and human dignity is not human ability or human reason. It is a little-known fact that the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written by a Christian seminary professor, Frederick Nolde back in 1948. He recognised that it was God’s creative action not human agency that gives us inherent dignity as human beings. In his book "Subverting Global Myths", Sri Lankan thinker Vinoth Ramachandra notes that our inherent value is not given by the state nor can it be taken away by other human beings – it can only be recognised.

Aimée with friends

A human is made in the image of God. What does this mean? We are rational and self-conscious. We are moral, having a conscience. We are creative, able to appreciate what is beautiful to ear and eye. We are social, able to establish authentic relationships of love – a capacity to love God and love others. We are spiritual, with a hunger after God. We can think, can choose, can create, can love and can worship. Of course, in the fall, every aspect of the image of God was defaced – our humanness is tainted with self-centeredness. Our human disobedience has upset our human relationships, including the relationship with God. However, God’s image has not been destroyed. The good news of God is that the image of God can be renewed.

But it is not simply that God has made us in His image. Later on, God makes the most astonishing statement through Ezekiel. He says, ‘for every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son – both alike belong to me.” God says He is both the God of all peoples and he is the God of each person. He is the personal owner of every human being who has ever lived, lives or who will live. The lives of all those we work with and serve and reach out to, are both made in the image of God and ultimately belong to God. ‘Our job is to help them to find, to return to, to relate to their rightful owner’ – Chris Wright. In working with and caring for people, as well as in caring for the earth itself, we are looking after God’s property. Let us be careful with God’s property today.