Male and Female

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27    

Alone of all God’s creatures, we bear God’s image.  This tells us our identity – who we are as humans.  We are imagebearers.  We have a basic likeness to God.  We are persons, we are relational beings, we are rational and emotional and volitional persons.  We are God’s representatives on earth.  

This is the central truth about us.  We are imagebearers of the eternal God.  This gives us worth, dignity, value.  We matter.  We matter not because of our achievements or money or looks, but simply because we bear God’s image.  

If you are a human being, then this is the truth about you.  You matter.  No matter what you have achieved.  No matter what you look like or how much money you have.  No matter how you have failed or how much you have struggled, you have worth, dignity and value simply because you bear the image of the immortal God.  Nothing can change that.  

If the first two lines emphasize our identity as imagebearers, the third line reveals our sexuality.  We are sexual beings.  God did not create neuter human beings.  He made us male or female, man or woman.  

Sexuality is far deeper than the physical.  It’s far more than plumbing!  Males and females not only have differently shaped bodies, we have differently shaped souls.  

Indeed, gender is the only fundamental distinction between humans.  Other distinctions, such as ethnicity, language, race, economic status or nationality don’t really matter.  They are superficial distinctions.  But gender, this matters.  

We see this when a baby is born.  Our first question is, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  For some reason that matters to us.  Gender matters to us in so many ways.  

This is who you are.  You are an imagebearer of God, either male or female.  You matter.  To the God of the universe, the God who made you, the God who cares about you, you matter incredibly!