Spiritual Perspectives
Who are We?
Created in the Image of God

By Barbara Russell
Special to The Independent

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement.
— John 7:24

In dealing with a very challenging interpersonal situation recently, I found it necessary to refocus very strongly on my identity as a child of God, and what that means. A friend suggested an exercise that I would like to share.

First, a little background. According to the first chapter of Genesis, God made man in His image and likeness. What does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God? To answer that you have to have an understanding of what God is. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," a book that I use to help me understand the Bible, Mary Baker Eddy answers the question, "What is God?" She states, "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." She goes on to say that these terms are synonymous, and "intended to express the nature, essence, and wholeness of Deity."

If we are made in His image and likeness, we must, by our very nature, express these qualities of God. What does it look like to express Mind? Some of the attributes of divine Mind are intelligence and wisdom. One result of expressing Spirit is freedom from human limitations. Expressing the qualities of Soul include grace and humor. Principle includes integrity. Life includes wholeness and progress. Truth includes honesty. And Love includes compassion and affection.

Since each person is an individual expression of God, that means each one has the capability to express the full complement of God's qualities, not just some of them. This is one way that God is known to us through the expression of His qualities, in ourselves and others. This does not mean that everyone is the same, or has the same talents. But it does mean that each one has all the qualities. For instance, the qualities of creativity, love, and joy are expressed in many different ways by different people.

What would the world look like with each person expressing the full complement of God's qualities? Take a minute to imagine that!

Of course there is some work to do here, and this is where the exercise comes in. First, I reminded myself that I was, in fact, created in the image and likeness of God. Next, I started making a list of qualities found within each synonym of God, and owned them as part of myself. This took some perseverance, because I was working to counteract the temptation to be fearful, resentful, and reactive. But reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson every day helps me to focus on what God is doing for me and for the world, instead of getting drawn into human drama. And He is certainly not providing fear and resentment. In direct contradiction to these, He is always providing strength, assurance, love, and forgiveness, which I naturally express as His child, if I keep my thought open to His gifts. As I focused on His gifts, the undesirable qualities began to recede, and I regained my equilibrium. One morning as I was doing my spiritual study, a feeling of lightness, encouragement, and joy came over me.

One important part of this exercise is to be grateful for the qualities of God that seem to be missing in ourselves and others. Since the qualities are not ours, but are actually God being expressed through His creation, we can rest assured that the qualities are present, and we can be grateful for them. We can pray to have God show us how to express the ones that seem to be lacking. And to recognize them in others. Affirming their identity as a child of God, and their ownership of all of His qualities, helped to soften my attitude toward the person I was having the problem with, and to see their good qualities. The result? Peace of mind, freedom, and joy.

Christian Science services are held every Sunday at NCI. Listen to real-life stories of spiritual healing on the Christian Science Sentinel Radio Edition, Sunday evenings at 8:30 p.m. on KTNN 660 AM. Barbara Russell can be contacted at (505) 722-0357 or brgallup@yahoo.com.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, wishing to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.