{Bible Journal, Apr. 29, 2026}

From the beginning in Your Word, Lord, You have revealed who You are. In the beginning God {Elohim} created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

The Hebrew word Elohim is plural. This You confirmed when You said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…(Genesis 1:26).”

Your Word also reveals Your oneness—“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).

Through “Us” and “Our” in Genesis 1:26, and “He” and “His” in Genesis 1:27, You made known both Your plurality and singularity.

You are Elohim—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You are three, yet You are one—perfectly united. I know that You have always been from eternity past and will remain for eternity future. You are “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22:13). You are “the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). Jesus, You are “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

In revealing who You are as Elohim in Genesis 1, You also revealed who we are, for You made us in Your “image” and according to Your “likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

In this way, we were made to resemble You—not in flesh and blood, but in spirit, for You are spirit (John 4:24). So not only did you create man with a physical body, but with a spirit as well. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him… (1 Corinthians 2:11a).

When it comes to understanding the spirit, You have shown us the way in how You often portray our inner selves as heart, soul, and mind. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Mat. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12, Deut. 6:5).

Lord, I cannot fully grasp the spirit You placed within us. However, I know my own spirit—my very being—expressed through my presence, emotions, morality, and thoughts.

When You formed man from the dust of the earth, You breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). It was through this breath that You granted to us physical life. And within that same breath, You imparted a reflection of Your likeness in our spirit distinct from the rest of Your creation that You spoke into being. For in that divine breath, You infused Your image into our very heart, soul, and mind.

WITHIN OUR HEARTS

You placed within us the capacity to love, for You are love. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:8).

In the same way, when we feel compassion, Lord, we express Your heart. You are “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness” (Psalm 103:8).

How can we forgive except through You? You are a forgiving God. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You (Psalm 86:5).

Because of this shared likeness, there is such beauty in hearts connecting. But nothing is as wonderful as our heart connecting with Yours—the heart of our Creator. One of Your greatest gifts was enabling us to intimately communicate directly with You—any day, any time, any hour. And You comfort us with Your great and dear promise, that “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13.5).

You assure us of Your nearness: You are near to all who call upon You, to all who call upon You in truth. You will fulfill the desire of those who fear You; You also will hear our cry and save us. You preserve all who love You…” (Psalm 145:18-20a). You are truly a compassionate God. May we also have such compassion for others.

And just as our hearts reflect You, so too do our souls.

WITHIN OUR SOULS

The mystery of the soul—who can understand it? Yet within ourselves, we sense it: that deep inner core of our being, the locus of our morality.

In our soul, You bestowed on us a likeness of Your moral nature. In the beginning, Your special creation of man and woman was very good (Genesis 1:31), made in perfect innocence and morality. Not only was everything good, but Adam and Eve knew no evil. However, You gave them free will—the ability to choose whether to obey or disobey, to live rightly before You or turn away—a moral choice.

Along with bestowing on us the image and likeness of Your morality and goodness, You have given us a clear mandate. You have shown us what is good, and what You require of us, that is, “…To do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

So when we act in righteousness and justice, that is from You. For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD (Psalm 33:4-5). Lord, You are righteous in all Your ways, and gracious in all Your works (Psalm 145:17).

Lastly, as our hearts and souls are a reflection of You, so are our minds.

WITHIN OUR MINDS

Although understanding our hearts and souls is often difficult to grasp, we more clearly see Your imprint on us through our intellect and creativity, which sets us apart from Your other creation. You instilled in us the ability to reason, plan, design, and create.

There is no greater example of Your intellectual and creative power than what is described in Genesis 1-2. It has taken mankind thousands of years to even scratch the surface in understanding Your creation of the heavens and earth, even with our greatest minds, such as Andreas Vesalius with the human body, Galileo Galilei with astronomy, Carl Linnaeus with plants and animals, Louis Pasteur with microorganisms, Albert Einstein with space, time, mass, and energy, and many that built upon their work.

When we invent, write, make music, calculate, plan, design, and many other intellectual and creative pursuits, we are resembling the image of our Maker.

And unlike any other creation, you gave mankind dominion over all that You had made. Such a command is only possible because of the unique way You made man—with our ability to reason and strategize—our intellect. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

My finite mind cannot truly understand the intricacies of our spirit that You lovingly formed in us—Your very image and likeness. But I praise You and thank You for giving us a part of Yourself. Lord, though scarred by sin in this fallen world, as the moon reflects the sun, may our spirit in some measure reflect You in Your goodness and righteousness.