Genesis 1:14-31 · Day 3 of the Daily Devotion Series
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
— Genesis 1:26-27 (KJV)
The pattern of Genesis 1 has been consistent from the very first verse. God speaks, it is done, and it is good. Light, sky, sea, land, sun, moon, living creatures — each one summoned by a word, confirmed by the refrain, sealed with approval. But as we arrive at the sixth day, something in the language shifts in a way that deserves our full attention. Before creating everything else, God simply said "Let there be." But before creating humanity, He speaks in the plural — as though pausing for inward counsel: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This is not a casual change in phrasing. This is deliberate intention within the heart of the Godhead — Father, Son, and Spirit — conferring together before the crown of creation was formed.
Embedded in this same chapter is the striking declaration that God gave everything He made a specific purpose. The lights set in the firmament were not merely beautiful — they were appointed "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years." They were placed in their positions to govern, to mark time, and to serve as faithful signals across every generation that would ever follow. The waters were gathered to their designated places. The land was given its domain. Every creature was released into its appointed sphere. Nothing in Genesis 1 is accidental. Everything exists because God thought of it, spoke it, and assigned it a function in His ordered world.
The pinnacle of this intentionality is humanity. While the rest of creation was spoken for, humanity was spoken to — blessed directly, commissioned personally, and given responsibility over everything else. And they were made not after the likeness of any other creature, but stamped with the image of God Himself. Genesis 1 is the opening chapter of the longest love story ever told, and it begins here: a God who wanted image-bearers — beings He could look at and recognize something of Himself in. You are that being. From the very beginning, you always were.
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years:"
— Genesis 1:14
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
— Genesis 1:26
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
— Genesis 1:27
There is a distinction in Genesis 1 that is easy to walk past if you are not reading with both eyes open. God speaks the light into existence. He speaks the seas and the land and the vegetation. He speaks the sun, the moon, the stars, the fish, the birds, the cattle. But when He comes to humanity, the language changes. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The plural is not a grammatical accident — it speaks to a deliberation, an inward counsel within the Godhead before the crown of creation came to be. Theologians have filled libraries on this verse, but pastorally, what I want you to hear is far simpler and far more personal: you were not an afterthought. You were not a reflex decision. Before you existed, the God of the universe deliberated over you and chose to make you. That is not a minor theological footnote. That may be the most important thing you will ever learn about yourself.
The lights in the firmament were given a purpose that is still running faithfully today. The sun still divides day from night. The moon still marks the months. They are doing exactly what God built them to do — not because they figured it out on their own, but because purpose was pressed into their nature from the moment they were set in place. I want to say this directly to anyone walking through a season of confusion about who they are or why they are here: purpose is not something you manufacture. It is something you discover, because it was placed in you before you drew your first breath. You are made in the image of a purposeful God who does nothing without intention. The question is not whether you have a purpose — you do. The question is whether you are willing to turn to the Maker and ask Him what He built in.
"In our image, after our likeness." I have turned those six words over in my mind for most of my ministry and I am still not done with them. They tell us that something of God — His capacity for relationship, for creativity, for moral awareness, for love that gives without counting the cost — was pressed into the very nature of humanity at the moment of creation. You did not merely receive a body and a soul. You received a stamp of the divine character itself. This is why sin is so devastating — it does not simply break rules, it distorts the image. And this is why redemption in Christ is so staggering — He is not making you into something foreign or unknown. He is restoring you to what you always were made to be. He is recovering the image that sin obscured.
Then God blessed them and sent them out: be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, have dominion. Once more, notice the order. The blessing precedes the commission. Identity comes before assignment. God does not say "go and earn your way into My image." He says "you already bear My image — now let that image be fruitful in the world I have given you." The life of faith is not an exhausting project of becoming worthy of God's notice. It is the slow, beautiful unfolding of what He has already placed in you — from the moment He said, in the eternal counsel of the Trinity, "Let us make."
**Spend five deliberate minutes today meditating on the fact that you were made on purpose.** Step away from noise, sit quietly, and let this sentence land: before I existed, God decided to make me. Let it push back against every lie that calls you a mistake, a burden, or an accident. Write it down if you need to. The God of the universe did not stumble into creating you — He deliberated over you.
**Ask the Maker today what He designed you for.** The lights were set in place for a governing purpose — they did not search for their function; it was built in. In an honest moment of prayer today, ask God directly: "What did You build into me that the people around me need?" You are not looking for purpose from scratch; you are asking the One who designed you to show you what He already placed there.
**Name one place today where you are not living as an image-bearer.** God's image includes His patience, His justice, His compassion, and His self-giving love. Choose one specific relationship or situation where you know, honestly, that you are not reflecting that image well. Bring it before God today — name it, confess it, and ask Him for the grace to show His character there before this day is done.
**Receive the blessing before you begin the labor.** God blessed humanity before He commissioned them — identity before assignment, always. Before your most demanding task or most draining responsibility today, stop and say aloud: "I go into this as someone made in God's image, carrying His blessing." Mean it. Then begin from that place.
Father, we bow before You as the God who did not speak us into being carelessly, but deliberated — in the eternal counsel of Your own being — and decided to make us in Your very image. Thank You that our lives are not accidents, that we are not anonymous to You, that before the world had a name You had already decided to make us and call us Your own. Forgive us for the times we have believed the voice that says we are unremarkable, that we are defined by our worst moments rather than by the image You pressed into us at the beginning. Restore that image in us today — the creativity, the compassion, the dignity, the capacity for love that You designed into our nature and that the years and the wounds and the sin have worn thin. Give us eyes to see ourselves as You see us — not as we are at our lowest, but as what You envisioned when You said "Let us make." And give us the courage to walk in the purpose You have already built into us, in the ordinary, irreplaceable, unrepeatable life You have placed in our hands. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.