(Genesis 1:27; 2:7) Man was created in the image of God. Our sin has marred that image, but our gracious God has made a way that we can be restored! The Bible is the only book that can accurately explain our past, present, and future. (0952250227) ----more----   The Creation of Man in God's Image "And God said, let us make man in our image." What a privilege. What a mind-boggling truth that we, humanity, were made in the image of our Creator. Now that is found in Genesis chapter 1 and in Genesis chapter number 2. God expounds upon that. He gives even more detail to His creative work. The Bible says in Genesis chapter 2 verse number 7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." The Unique Formation of Man If you want to know how man is different than the animals, Here's how. He was, first of all, the only part of the creation that was literally shaped by the hand of God. We preachers get pretty artistic at times and we say God flung the stars into space and He carved out the rivers with His finger, but actually that's not what He did. Now when you read Genesis 1 and 2, you find that God just spoke. That's the power of the Word of God. He just said, light, and there was light, and it was very good. So God spoke all of the created world into existence. But with man, this was the first record that we have that God of His own hands formed man. He took the dust of the ground and He shaped him. Why would He do that? I think it's a very beautiful picture to all of us that from the very beginning of time, God always intended for man's life to be in His hands. In a very real sense, your life is in His hands today. Your times are in His hands. The time of your life and the time of your death is all in the hand of God, not in your own hand. But I wonder, is your life really in God's hand today? Have you put your whole life in the nail pierced hand of Jesus and realized it's not your own? Have you said to your Creator, I want you to be my Redeemer? Have you said to the One who gave you life, I want this new life that comes through Jesus Christ? So the first way we are distinct is that we were formed by His own hand in this creative work. He made us.  The Breath of Life and Eternal Soul And then, He breathed into our nostrils the breath of His life. Ecclesiastes says that God has put a little bit of eternity in every one of us. That's quite a thought, to think that God has put an eternal soul in all of us. Everything is going to burn up, die, disappear, be gone, but not man. A million years from this moment you will be alive somewhere forever because you have an eternal soul. God says He made you a living soul, and when God gives that kind of life, His own life, put into man, There is no end to that. Man's Constitution and Likeness to God We've been talking about how God created man, but think about man's constitution. He was made in the image of God. That word image literally comes from a word that means to shade. The illusion of something, the resemblance of something. It doesn't mean that we are little gods. It means that He has made us in His likeness to, to resemble Him. He has used His own nature, if you will, as a model for creating us. Like God, we have life, an eternal soul. Like God, we have intelligence with the ability to reason and think and decide. Like God, we have emotional and relational capabilities. Like God, we have been made in three parts. Our God, the Godhead, we've talked about this, is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We have spirit, soul, and body. Man is a spirit. And that's literally the part of you where God dwells. You have a soul, your intellect, your emotion, your will, and then He's given you a body. He's put that spirit and soul in a body. And with your body you have five senses to relate to the world around you. That's really a beautiful thing to see how God has reflected His own natu