The Image of God

This is unrelated to the week's devotional, but it's been heavy on my heart for the last 36 hours. I had a unique experience at the hospital yesterday that got me thinking about the preciousness of each life created in God's image. And then I left the hospital and spent time in the company of a teenager that further burdened me to grasp for myself and then affirm in others "the IOG" as I affectionately call it. I've been very burdened by the weight of two things: 1) the unfathomable blessing of being created in God's image, and 2) the incredible opportunity we have this summer to affirm the value and worth of every individual we encounter this summer because of the blessing of being created to reflect the Creator.

Please, please, please don't take this opportunity lightly.

Every single life is incredibly precious, regardless of age or appearance or functional capability or popularity on a junior high or high school campus. Doesn't that last qualification even just soundridiculous?! And yet so many of the students we encounter on the water are dying to have someone affirm value and worth in them. The more you and I can grasp that at our deepest core, we have value and worth if for no other reason than because we bear the image of the God of the universe, the more authentically we can communicate that truth to those around us. And that truth makes all the difference in the world.

You've heard it a hundred times, and you'll hear it a hundred more: Befriend campers with the love of Christ. Encourage a Biblical self-awareness. Model a Christ-centered lifestyle. And challenge campers to a deeper Christian commitment.