When God made man, it was not like the other animals. Those he just spoke into existence. “Let there be… and there was.” But with mankind, he said “Let us make man in our image.” And he formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. No, we are not at all like the other animals.

Being made in the image of God includes this yearning to be like God. Adam and Eve first discovered this yearning when the serpent suggested they could “be like God, knowing good and evil.” Sin has at its root this desire to be like God, controlling our own desires and destiny. We become our own gods, doing whatever we think pleases us. Our culture is now controlled for the most part by Humanism. We can solve all our own problems. We can explain away the universe and how we got here without a Creator God. We don’t answer to anyone but ourselves: To Be Like God.

But the Bible paints a very different picture of being like God for those who are his children. In Romans chapter 8, we find these wonderful words of encouragement: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

For the Christian, our desire to be like God means to be Christ-like, to reflect God’s glory. Sin seeks to usurp God’s glory.  Saint and sinner alike all desire to be like God. The difference is whether that desire is for our own glorification, or for God’s.