Genesis 1:27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Look around you. What people do you see? Do you see boys, girls, or both?
Genesis 1:27 says that when God made people, he made them as male and female. That means he made them as boys and girls. A male is a boy, and a female is a girl. This is super important for at least four reasons:
First, it’s important because it tells us that everyone is either a boy or a girl. We call this difference our sex or gender. Your sex or gender is either male or it is female. YOU are either a boy or a girl. And boys and girls are different right down to our very cells and molecules. Right down to our DNA. DNA is the molecules that make a person what they are. Your whole body is made up of tiny cells and even tinier molecules. DNA tells your cells what to be. And your cells tell your whole body what to be. Boys have male DNA and girls have female DNA. God gave you your DNA, which means God created your sex or gender. God made you as either a boy or a girl, and God doesn’t make mistakes.
Second, it tells us that both boys and girls image God. When Genesis 1:27 says that “God created MAN in his image” it means that God created all mankind, or all humanity, in his image. Then it tells us that humanity is divided into male and female. BOTH males and females image God equally. This means that boys and girls are both equally important, loved, and valued by God. Boys aren’t better than girls, and girls aren’t better than boys.
Third, it tells us that it takes both boys and girls to totally image God. In Genesis chapter 2, we read that at one point there was only a man named Adam, no girl, no woman, no female. And God said, “this is not good.” When there was only a boy it was not good. There needed to be both a boy and a girl for God’s creation to be good. Why? Because it takes both boys and girls to image God. It takes both men and women for humans to be able to be like God. And what is God like? He is loving.
Fourth, it tells us that we were made to image God by loving those who are different from us. Why did God need to make people in two different sexes or genders? Why did God need to make humans different in order for us to image him? Because God, like us, is both different and the same. God is a Trinity. Do you remember what that means? He is Father, Son, and Spirit. But God is also ONE God. God is both different and the same. And so are people.
We are all the same – human. We are all different – male or female.
Why is this so important? Because our differences teach us to love each other. God is love because God is different. The Father, Son, and Spirit love each other. How? By doing for each other what the other cannot do. The Father can’t do what the Spirit does, so the Spirit loves the Father by doing it for him. And the Son can’t do what the Father does, so the Father does it for the Son in love. Only the Son, Jesus, could become a human like us. So he did it, in love. In the same way, people are all different, especially boys and girls. We can love each other by doing for each other what we cannot do on our own.
Jesus has brought us all into his family when we trust in him. Now we are all his brothers and sisters in God’s family. As very different boys and girls, we can learn to love each other like a family in spite of how different we are. In fact, we can love each other by using our differences to help each other day by day.
Questions: How are boys and girls (male and female) different? How can you choose to love someone who is different from you today? How does Jesus’ love for you help you to love other people like he does?
TLICfamily 