阅读经文 

John是三一基督教大学的美术系主任。七年前当他听说一个来自RCM的青年人被枪杀时，John便发起一个叫RCM画像计划的项目，来记念这位年轻人，并促进社区的团结。John把那个年轻人的画像绘在一块木板上，然后他再画了404个RCM社区居民的画像，这个画像计划的全体作品后来便被送到各处巡展。

John说：“五百年前，只有皇帝才会有画像，藉此来表示他的重要性。用手画一幅画像要用很多时间和精力，绘画时全部注意力都要集中在一个人身上。这样做是表示尊重每一个人的本相，而不是因他们取得多少成就或他们拥有多少钱财。”

听到John如此去形容这个画像计划，对我明白按神的形像被造的意义很有帮助。在我们生活中，会经历成功、成长、厌倦、犯错——即使生命中这一切阶段尚未发生之前，我们便已经拥有同样的内在价值，因为每一个人都带有神的形像。

你是按神的形像被造的，你今天遇见的每一个人也是如此。

John is the chair of the art department at Trinity Christian College. Seven years ago, when he heard that a teenage member of Roseland Christian Ministries was shot and killed, John initiated the Roseland Portrait Project as a way to honor the young man and to strengthen bonds in the community. John painted the young man's portrait on a wood panel. He then went on to paint 404 more portraits of Roseland community residents, and the project became a traveling exhibit.
Here are John's words:

"500 years ago, only kings had their portraits painted as a way of asserting their significance. The time and energy it takes to paint a portrait by hand is a way of paying concentrated attention to a single person. It is a way of valuing ordinary people for who they are, not what they achieve or the money they make."

John's description of this process has been a helpful way for me to think about being made in God's image. Before we build a life, achieve, grow, get sick, make mistakes—before any of what becomes our life takes place—there is in us the same inherent value because all of us human beings bear the image of God.

You are created in God's image. Every person you come across today is also made in God's image.