Rick Warren's Daily DevotionalSample

Your Destiny: Become Like Jesus

As you look toward your Decade of Destiny, it's important to remember that, from the beginning, God's plan has been to make you like his Son, Jesus. This is your destiny. God announced this intention at Creation: "Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image and likeness.'" (Genesis 1:26 NCV)

In all of creation, only human beings, are made "in God's image." This is a great privilege and gives us dignity. We don't know all this phrase covers, but we do know some of the aspects it includes -

We are spiritual beings - our spirits are immortal and will outlast our earthly bodies; we are intellectual - we can think, reason, and solve problems; we are relational - we can give and receive real love; and we have a moral consciousness - we can discern right from wrong, which makes us accountable to God.

But the image is incomplete and has been damaged and distorted by sin. So God sent Jesus on a mission to restore the full image that we have lost. What does the full "image and likeness" of God look like? It looks like Jesus Christ! The Bible says Jesus is "the exact likeness of God," "the visible image of the invisible God," and "the exact representation of his being." (2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT; Colossians 1:15 NLT; Hebrews 1:3 NIV)