Genesis 1:27
God Created Us in His Image
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
1 John 3:1-3
Children of God
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
John 20:24-29
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
We live in an age, where our appearance means so much to us...When I was still going to school, a friend made the comment to me that we are in an age where everyone's teeth are perfect...I said I do not understand what you mean...He explained that probably ninety plus percent of the parents that can afford it, have their children's teeth fixed of any problem they have...And I learned later that some who cannot afford it -borrowed money so their children would and could have the nice teeth...My friend said to look at the next ten people and see how many I think have had orthodontia work...When he brought it to my attention, not only did the next ten people have nice teeth with no gaps, but almost all the people I talked to and saw those next few weeks had no flaws in their smiles...It appears his thinking was right on this tooth theory...
After we are born then become young children, we are often preoccupied about how we look, the acne on our face, the gaps between our teeth, what we weigh, our height, and any of the flaws and imperfections, that we think we have...I think this is learned and has gotten overblown in today's world... Marketing and advertising seems obsessed with appearance and appearances...It seems that in our world appearance and how we look takes on a much greater role than our own uniqueness's that God has given us...I even think, we can sometimes remember our flaws from the past, better than we can remember the better things about our appearance and image of Him....Old wounds, and scars and flaws (in our lives) -can make us think about our life in a negative way...
God is Love...God certainly does not look down upon those with gaps in their teeth...We are His children...God Loves us with our flaws...
We are created by our Father and are Children of God...We are still His children with our own flaws and imperfections...We are His reflection...We are to a point in time, when many things make us think that we are poor reflections of Him...We have made our flaws, blemishes and imperfect smiles into problems for our children (and ourselves) that now seem to take on a large role in our lives, that may become a major focus not only on ourselves, but also for those who want to make fun of us with our gap-like teeth...These flaws affect how we feel and can even interfere with how we feel and act each day...Our Father did not make us think this way, we have done this to ourselves...
Being made in the image of God, does not make us perfect...There is only One perfect Image of Him...There is only One perfect reflection of Him, and that is His Son...But we are all made in His Image...Mankind, even though we are made in His Great Image, we have our own unique and different flaws...He Loves us because He created us...We are His children, and He has lavished His Love on us...And that is what we are -children of God...
Sometimes we must live with our scars and flaws...Doubting St. Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus first came back after His resurrection...Jesus could have at anytime brought the disciples together before or after His death...He chose not to...He chose to leave St. Thomas out of the group that would first see Him...There were reasons only God and His Son know why St. Thomas was left out...(It may have been to show us that it is alright to have our flaws and scars of our childhood and life)...And because St. Thomas did not see Him, he doubted...When Jesus was resurrected, He could have (or His Father could have) easily healed or taken care of His glorious wounds and flaws that we had inflicted on Him, because of our sins...Then St. Thomas and the other disciples would have seen no wounds or scars...But He chose to keep His scars from His wounds and flaws, that we had given Him...The One made so perfect in His Image is scarred with our wounds, and He chose to wear them and keep them...Doubting St. Thomas not only got to see His glorious wounds and scars, but he also got to touch them...And after touching those wounds, that were inflicted on Him, then Thomas believes...And with nail marks on His hands and wounds in His side, Thomas cries out to His Master, my LORD and my God...