Created “in the image of God”

I cannot get inside you nor can you get inside me ‒ inside my or your brain, heart, blood, bones. I cannot even get inside my own body and see what it is composed of or how it functions ‒ all the microscopic atoms, cells, tissues, organs and processes that take place every second and every day. However, I know something about you and I know a lot more about me despite my not being able to “enter” inside you or me. How do I know it? By what we do: we talk, we laugh, we jump, we make things. When we talk, we express our thoughts. When we laugh, we express our emotions. When we jump, we express our ability to move. When we make things, we express our creativity. A play written by Shakespeare cannot be written by any other playwright. A song sung by Edith Piaf cannot be sung by any other singer. A high jump jumped by Javier Sotomayor cannot be jumped by any other jumper. A portrait painted by Picasso cannot be painted by any other artist.
The Bible says that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). He created them after He had created “the heavens and the earth” (1:1), the firmament (1:8), “the earth” and the “seas” (1:10-11), the “lights” (1:14-18), and “the living creatures” (1:20-25). All these are expressions of what God is and how He functions on the inside, but only man was made in God’s own image.
What does this mean? The answer to this question is given by the whole Bible, the whole history of mankind and the whole eternity spent with God in heaven. But God has given us some examples to help us understand it, and one of these examples is the parent-child relationship. My child is very much like me and I believe your child is very much like you. After I got pregnant I didn’t give birth to a dog or a pine tree, I gave birth to a human being. So did you, or will, hopefully.
Man has invented machines, built cities, discovered continents, walked on the ocean floor, launched rockets, stepped on the moon, written books, produced music, set records… That’s also because he was created in the image of God.
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:16-18).