When each of my children was born, the first time I held them was an unforgettable moment of sheer bliss. The joy to see their crinkled noses, their eyes opening, the sound of that newborn cry. The wonder of holding this little baby amazed me. I couldn’t get over how beautiful they were. I still feel that way when I hold a newborn – the beauty of this life is beyond words.
David says that there is something beautiful about every person: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps. 139:13-14 ESV). There is a beauty in creation in flowers, clouds, sunrises and sunsets. There is beauty in a waterfall or the changing colours of the fall leaves. But there is something even more beautiful about those made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27). Because God is the source of beauty (Ps. 27:4) and is beautiful in and of himself, all that he makes reflects his beauty. So when God makes us, he crowns us with glory and honour (Ps. 8:5-6), words that are used synonymously with beauty (Ps. 96:6).
What this means is that there is beauty in the face of every human being. While sin has left is mark on this world, God’s beauty shines in some way through each person. As much as we see glory in the creation, God has bestowed upon us his beauty to radiate his likeness in his creation as his vice-regents. We have been commanded to be fruitful and multiply, spreading the beauty of God’s image from one end of the world to the other.
When we see that people are made to reflect the beauty of God, it changes the way that we treat people. We see them as having inherent dignity, worth, value, and worthy of respect. The foundation for human rights in Christianity is that every person has been made to reflect the beauty of the glory of God. From the poorest to the richest, from the youngest to the oldest, from the healthiest to the sickest, every person is made to reflect the glory of the beauty of God. So we ought to treat people with dignity and respect.
For this reason, James can say that true religion remembers the widow and the orphan in their distress (Jas. 1:27). Care for the disadvantaged is part of our mandate because we display that human value is not dependent upon how beautiful someone is, what productivity they can contribute, but how they reflect the glory of the Creator.
So let’s remember that from the youngest to the oldest, from the healthiest to the sickest, from the richest to the poorest, God’s beauty is on display all around us. And let’s treat one another that honours the beauty of the glory of God. Our value isn’t in what we think the mirror says, but in what he says.
Thankful to bear his image,
~Andrew