“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

One day, a Pharisee asked Jesus this question to trap Him: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus gave an astounding answer, from Luke 20:23-25.

“But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”

They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”

And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Then the Pharisee, because he was not really after receiving what Jesus had to offer, missed out on asking the all-important follow-up question. What he should have asked is this: “What things belong to God?”

Had he asked that question, maybe, Jesus could have asked back: “Whose image and inscription is in you?”

God’s image is in all of us. As the only creatures that have God’s image, man’s purpose is to give his life to God and to belong to Him through eternity. Not everyone however, will experience eternal life. The problem is a lot of times people offer up things that have their own image and imprint to God. God doesn’t desire our possessions, good works or even our own righteousness by obeying the law and the commandments. “By the works of the law, no one will be justified before God.” (Galatians 2:16b)

For us who accepted Jesus however, God wrote the law into our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). We therefore belong to the Father Whose image and inscription we have. We can now offer ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

“Whose Image and inscription is in you”?