You and I exist because our infinite, unfathomable God CHOSE us to exist, WANTED us to exist. The Judeo-Christian creation story says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God: “Let us create humanity in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves” (Genesis 1:26).From all eternity, God has thought of us. Only God's continual thinking of us holds us in existence, every moment. God created us to manifest God's Glory, true, but, even more than that, God created us OUT OF LOVE. No matter why our bodies are in this world, no matter how much or how little our biological parents wanted us or chose us to be, GOD has always wanted us to exist because God loves each of us as if we were the only child of His who ever existed on this earth.
Do we really stop to think about the reality that we are created in God's Image? Scripture tells us that we all are created in God's Image, which means that we, all human beings, have the same identity: we are all children of God. We are also created in God's Likeness - but we choose ourselves how much "likeness" to God we want to have, how much we want to resemble God, to know and have God's heart, to know and live by God's ways.
In the depths of our souls, GOD LIVES! How often, when we go to Church, we sigh and think about how wonderful it is to enter a Holy Place. Catholics will bow to the altar, genuflect in respect as they enter a pew. But - do we bow down in our hearts to the God Who lives in the sacred space of our souls? Do we bow down and tell God "I know I came from You. I know I live because of You. Holy is Your Name!" Do we recognize God as the Source of all our Joy and Happiness?
To know that you are created BY God FOR God and in GOD's Image and Likeness, and that God's Life lies hidden as a Pearl of Great Price in your soul is your truest, realest, deepest identity. Nothing else in your life is as real as or as important as this. Your family, your relationships, your race, your color, your poverty or wealth, your sexual orientation, your talents, - all these are like the garments you wear, not the deepest reality of who you are - God's beloved child. It's only when we come before God in the pure simplicity of being His created child, totally dependent on Him for existence, that we understand what humility really means. Only then can we pray the prayer that really matters: "Lord, teach me to do Your Will. Enlighten me, strengthen me, heal me, revivify love, hope, faith, and peace within me."
Do you know what sin REALLY is? Deep down, sin is the false idea that we are autonomous, separated from God, ourselves, and everyone else, free to do OUR will regardless of God's will. Sin is feeling so separated from God, ourselves, and everyone else that we strike out in pure meanness, selfishness, cynicism, and despair. Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. tells us
"To become who we were created to be, we must each get our own “who” right! Who am I? Where do I objectively abide? Where do I come from? Is my DNA divine or not? The great illusion that we must all overcome is that of separateness. Religion’s primary task is to communicate union, to reconnect people to their original identity “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).... God’s clear and specific job description is to undo separation: 'My dear people, we are already the children of God; it is only what is in the future that has not yet been revealed, and then all we know is that we shall be like God' (1 John 3:2). Jesus is The Great Reconnector—by modeling his own objective connection with God and telling us to do the same.....
"What most people call “sin” is more the symptom of sin, not the delusional state itself! It is this common state of believed or chosen autonomy from God and others that must be addressed. Our primary and self-destructive illusion is that we are separate and alone. This is the true basis, motivation, and loneliness that leads to all 'sin.'"
Every day, we can ask ourselves "Do I have my 'who' right today? Am I really believing, deep down, that I have Divine DNA and that I am God's Beloved Child - and that so is everyone else? Am I acting today as if I am united with God in my soul or as if I am a Lone Ranger, riding off as a Free Agent answerable to no one else but me?"
Once we know who we are, we know that we are neither alone nor helpless neither unwanted nor useless. We have a Divine Origin and a Divine Destiny. What comes in between is our choice. Choose to live in the knowledge that you are good, created by God in love and united with God in love, and you will always live nourished by God's abundant Fountain of inner mercy, love, peace, and joy.