rai·son d’ê·tre (noun)
- the most important reason or purpose for someone or something’s existence.
This morning I had both of my daughters cuddled up against me, with my wife sitting nearby. Looking at my daughters I was reminded how much they are like their Mom. Haddie looks SOOO much like Jordan. Lizzie acts SOOO much like Jordan. (People say she looks a little like me).
My son was the first one to come to our door this morning, needing help with something. As I was helping him change his clothes, I was noting how much like me he was in terms of behavior and sensitivity.
Our kids are OBVIOUSLY unique beings with their own personhood, but you can see the resemblance they have to us. (A.K.A. their parents)
Even adopted kids, who don’t have the same genetics, will, over time, take on characteristics of their new family. I speak from experience as an adopted child. I have also met my birth father. I am much like him, even in my mannerisms.
We now understand some of the scientific basis for the biological component of this. We know this through our understanding of DNA. Our kids are literally half of one parents DNA and half the other parents DNA.
In the first book of the Bible it actually records the birth of Adam’s son Seth in these terms of resemblance and likeness. It says “he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image.”1
In the original Hebrew the word for image is צֶלֶם (selem). If you want to know how to pronounce it. Say: “Sell ‘Em” fast.
This is how one Biblical Hebrew dictionary defines it:
Strong’s Definitions: צֶלֶם tselem, tseh’-lem; from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol:—image, vain shew.
This isn’t the first time in the book of Genesis the word selem and it’s concept of likeness and resemblance come up. The first time is when God describes making human beings:
“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.””
Genesis 1:26 NLT
Now we come to why I put the French phrase in my title. This French phrase: Raison d’être is literally translated “reason for being”
Whether you know it or not… or believe it or not…. According to the book of Genesis: Your reason for being is to be an image of God. To be like Him. In Latin the concept is called: Imago Dei.
What is image? What does it mean to be the image of God? Great question. It’s an issue that has been debated for literally thousands of years. I’m not really interested in settling the entirety of the debate… Nor would I dare to….but I would LOVE to talk about a few aspects of this Imago Dei.
1. We have His Spiritual DNA.
God is entirely a Spiritual being. Or He was before Jesus became man and dwelt among us (a conversation for another day.) The Father doesn’t have physical DNA, but in a very real sense we have aspects of His spiritual DNA, if you will.
When God made Adam… He brought him to life by breathing into his nostrils and Adam became “A living being.” The Hebrew word here is נֶפֶשׁ or “Neh-fesh.” Literally: Soul, life. God literally breathed Adam into existence. The connection between the concept of breath and the concept of spirit in the Hebrew are interrelated. This is true in the Greek in the New Testament as well. Adam may have not had someone pass on physical DNA to him, but God literally breathed Spiritual DNA into him. In the book of Luke it literally says Adam is the son of God.2
2. We are His reflection.
There are multiple pictures that are helpful here. You can find many of these in creation. We are His shadow, His reflection pool. My personal favorite analogy is the Moon.
The Moon does not have light of its own… we see the moon because the sun shines on it and it reflects the sun’s light back to us.
Jesus said it this way: ““I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 TLV
Now Jesus is talking here to a group of people who are about to be filled with the Holy Spirit… Gods Spirit… and He tells them elsewhere to not even try to do anything til that Spirit comes.This is how humans are to operate fully Alive.
Even before we have His Spirit we still reflect his light in other ways. In this larger sense the book of Romans talks about how people who don’t know him will sometimes obey him because it’s a part of their nature.3
3. We are relational. Like He is.
God by his very nature is not just personal… He is interpersonal. The Father and the Son talk to each other. All three of them talk about one another. All the time.
Jesus is constantly sneaking off to pray (aka Talk to His Father)4
Jesus is constantly talking about the Holy Spirit.5
The Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus during his Baptism and the Father declares how pleased He is with His Son.6
The Father is jealous for His son to be honored and worshipped as different above all persons. 7
The Holy Spirit is constantly searching the Will of the Father so he can share it with us. 8
And I could go on. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being in complete unity, have been in relationship since before time was even created. Their unity is supposed to be reflected in us.. as a sign to the World of who He is. 9
4. We are a Mosaic picture of who He is.
A Mosaic is a “surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously covered materials to form pictures or patterns”10
So this is where individuality REALLY comes in. No one person pictures, resembles, or images God on their own perfectly.
Soon after Adam was created, God declares that it is not good for Adam to be alone.11 Personally I think this speaks deeply to God’s relational nature. ONE person can not image God on their own. You need at least Two or Three, to do any sort of justice to the interpersonal being that God is.
Each of us are unique persons. We may have similarities to other human beings but we each have our own unique style. Even identical twins are different people. They may share physical DNA, but their spiritual DNA is quite different.
Some like my friend Luke, reflect the creative artist in our paintings or our sculptures.
Some reflect His depth of knowledge through intelligence or gift of teaching.
Some like my daughter LOVE Science. Johannes Kepler is known to have said “Science is the process of thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”
Each of us have a different piece of his image, in addition to the aspects we all share.
There is SOOO much more we could talk about here, but I hope this has been a helpful exploration of your identity and mine in God.
May you be set apart to pursue Him and His likeness, expressing Him in the depths of your being and in the specific ways you were called.
Footnotes
1. Genesis 5:3
2. Luke 3:38
3. Romans 2:14-16
4. Matthew 14:23, Matthew 26:36, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16 (often withdrew), Luke 6:12, Luke 9:28, Luke 11:1, etc
5. John 14:26, Mark 13:11, Luke 11:13, Luke 12:12, John 20:22
7.Matthew 3:13-17
8. Romans 8:27
9.John 17:20-23
10.http://www.Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary/mosaic
11. Genesis 2:18
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