My wife, Merryn, and I once visited a large market in Sydney. On that day a man was cutting out small silhouettes of people’s faces from black cardstock. He would complete one in two minutes for two dollars. We gave him the money and his shiny scissors went to work, his eyes darting between us and his handiwork. Within 2 minutes he handed us our silhouette.

Seeing our profiles was a strange experience. Mr. Scissorhands had certainly captured our characteristics, but some features weren’t quite right. My chin was a little pointy and my nose a bit too round—and so was Merryn’s. Our eyes lifted off the card and to our scissor-clutching friend’s face. Sure enough, that’s where we found in the flesh those false features. With pointy chin and rounded nose, the grinning artist had “snipped” us in his own image!

“Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us,” the famous record of origins states (Genesis 1:26). We are the portraits, God is the original. Reason, emotions, creativity, speech, plus the responsibility to “reign over the fish . . . the birds . . . the livestock” (v.26) all originate from our being made in God’s likeness. This immense honor (Psalm 8:3-8) makes all humans worthy of dignity and respect. Even after the fall, when sin marred our image, it wasn’t completely lost (Genesis 9:6). This explains why murder is out of the question, and why even cursing another person is wrong (James 3:9-10).

Divine features are reflected in everyone you see. The image may be scarred through neglect, distorted by greed, and smeared by selfishness, but it is there. And one day, for those willing, it will be fully restored—transformed into the image of Jesus, the true and complete image of God (Colossians 1:15).