by Emily Tink
Questions of identity have been a part of society for centuries but seem particularly fraught today. As parents, we want to point our kids to the truth in God’s word, rooting them in the unchanging identity of being loved by their Creator, made in His image and with the opportunity to grow in His likeness through the grace of Jesus. As I’ve sought to do this with my own kids, I’ve been helped by a small but weighty book by Mark Meynell entitled “What makes us human? And other questions about God, Jesus and human identity”. Of particular help has been chapter two, which I’ve summarized below.
Chapter two is entitled “Made: How Does God See Us?” To answer this and many other questions, Meynell turns to scripture, first quoting King David in Psalm 8 verses 3 when he asks “What is man that you are mindful of him?” The answer is that God made us for himself and gave us glory and honor for His own glory. Meynell tells us that God did not need us but made us as an expression of his love and for his glory. In Jeremiah 31:3 God says to his people, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
We are made in the image of God. This impacts how we function, in relationship with others and with responsibility in the world. We also have many capacities that are a reflection of God that are not shared by animals such as the capacity for abstract reasoning, creativity and self-giving compassion. Meynell says, “We are made from dust (like all other creatures) but we are simultaneously embodied souls, made by God in his image, and loved by God as his creation.”
When confronted with evil or suffering, we may question how that fits with bearing the image of God. Meynell helpfully explains that being an image bearer is the foundation for everything that the Bible teaches about being human. All humans are made in the image of God and cannot lose that reality, regardless of anything we do or anything that happens to us. Meynell gives examples- “I might have failed morally, but I still have value and dignity because of God’s image in me (like the murderer Cain). I might be an embryo where almost everything about me is a question of potential. But I still have value and dignity because of God’s image in me. I might start losing my mental faculties like memory or the ability to recognise people (like an Alzheimer’s sufferer), but I still have value and dignity because of God’s image in me.”
Meynell quotes Augustine in his conclusion, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” As we walk alongside our kids in learning about their identity as humans, may we encourage them to find their rest in the Lord!