God originally created man in His own image so that man could know companionship with God in a unique sense and to a degree which is impossible for any other creature to experience.47
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Many men and women are troubled by the thought that they are too small and inconsequential in the scheme of things. But that is not our real trouble—we are actually too big and too complex, for God made us in His image and we are too big to be satisfied with what the world offers us!48
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To become like God is and must be the supreme goal of all moral creatures. This is the reason for their creation, the end apart from which no excuse can be found for their existence. Leaving out of consideration for the moment those strange and beautiful heavenly beings of which we have hints in the Bible but about which we know so little, we concentrate upon the fallen race of mankind. Once made in the image of God we kept not our first estate, but left our proper habitation, consorted with Satan and walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, provided atonement for us… the purpose being stated in Romans 8:29: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”49