When you are bound to a wheelchair from a disease like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), certain voices in your head start to tell you that you are less, that you are worthless, that you are unworthy. What these voices say can feel like the truth when much of the world looks different then you do. Our world highlights the rich and famous, the physically strong, and the independent . I am not these things. I rely on the finances of my parents and the government, I can’t do anything requiring physical exertion, and I am dependent on others for most of my physical needs. When who you are is rarely depicted in the media, you start to believe the lie you are not worthy to be among the world and its people. These false feelings of inadequacy can sometimes overwhelm me and plunge me into some very dark places. They can push me to hide away like a hermit hiding from the world. I hide because I am afraid I will be ridiculed; afraid I will be rejected. These are not idle fears or figments of an overactive imagination. I have been ridiculed and I have been rejected just because I look different and have different physical abilities. The world can be a cruel place and it can be easier to hide away in a prison of your own design. However, the Christian faith tells me these are lies. It tells me I have value and I am equal to others for I am created in the image of God.
Genesis 1:27 (ESV) states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Christian tradition teaches to be created in the image of God or the Imago Dei is to reflect the person of God back to the world. This image may be marred by the introduction of evil into the human heart, but it still exists within us. To reflect God’s being, means we reflect his aliveness, reason, free will, and morality. We also reflect his dominion and his relationality. The fact we move and breathe shows us we reflect the eternal life of God albeit in a lesser finite degree. Our ability to reason or think logically about ourselves and the world around us originates in God’s ability to do the same. Though many aspects of our lives are conditioned, we still get to determine the general direction of our lives. Our finite freedom of will mirrors God’s complete freedom of will. God has complete dominion or rulership over his creation. He chose to share this rulership with humanity when he made us in his image. We can be sought out and seek out to be in relationship from the fact that the one God is a relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Since I am crafted in the image of God, I am equal to any other person because they to are crafted in the image of God. Regardless of how I look or my physical abilities, I deserve to be treated with respect and dignity by other human beings because of our equality. All people deserve to be treated by others with dignity and respect because they to are created in God’s image. No matter how I feel or how you feel. No matter what others say or do. It remains an unchanging and objective truth we bear God’s image in our souls. When I really contemplate this truth—really break it down in my mind—it silences the voices crying out “unworthy!” and “worthless!”