The Repair Shop

February 2025

Are you saying I’m an animal?

Well, animals eat, sleep and communicate like us.  We’re classified as mammals and have hearts, lungs, muscles and DNA like theirs.

But we walk on two legs!            

As do gibbons and kangaroos.

We have opposable thumbs.

And so do gorillas and koalas!

What about our brain?  It’s so large!

Yes, but the same size, in proportion to our body, as the brain of a mouse.

OK.  But what about our ability to think in complex ways, and about abstract ideas and morals, and even to wonder why we exist at all?  

Human beings seem to be uniquely able to do all that, but those who can’t, like newborn babies and brain-injured patients are still people, aren’t they?

So is there something that unequivocally distinguishes us from animals?

Yes, but not in our biology.  It’s in something our creator said: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26).  Everything that God has made tells us something about him, but men and women are like mirrors reflecting a clear image of our maker.  All the paintings in the art gallery tell us something about the artist but human beings are this artist’s self-portrait.  That’s why your life matters so much.  And the lives of every other person.

Did God really say that?

Jesus believed that God did, and so did Jesus’ apostles (Matthew 19:4  James 3:9).

We humans do some ugly things. Can we really be made in God’s image?

The likeness is spoilt by our high-handed rebellion against our creator.  We have slashed the painting in the gallery.  Now Jesus alone perfectly shows us what God is like.  His mission is to restore you and me to our intended glory.  He has the power to take off our old warped self and reclothe us once again in the true likeness of God himself.  It’s the greatest Repair Shop in the world. 

Sincerely

Graham Burrows