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The other day, I greeted my wife by kissing her. My son reacted by saying, "Ew, quit trying to rizz up mom in front of us." Some of the things kids say nowadays, like "rizz," may leave many of us scratching our heads. Which, by the way, means flirting with someone.

But that disconnect we feel about modern slang can occur with some of the terms we find in the Bible, like the concept of the "image of God." It's a core belief of Christians that all people are made in the image of God, and yet it is a term we take for granted and seldom stop to think about.

Genesis, the beginning of the Bible, reveals that God has made humanity in his image, a "tselem," in Hebrew. For some of us, this may be strange, sounding weird. Still, even stranger, this word is often translated as "idol" everywhere else in the Bible. Does this mean we are God's idols? Well, kind of. Let me explain.

In the ancient Near East, a tselem could be a king, who represented the gods, or even a priest, who represented the people to the gods and the gods back to the people. So, what does this mean for us?

Well, theologians have long wondered about the implications of this. For some, this concept implies that humans have been given God-like qualities, such as the ability to reason or understand morality. However, we know that the image of God is something that all human beings carry, and the ability to reason and understand morality is not something that all types of human beings can do.

Concerning this, theologian Dr. Michael Heiser asks us to think of someone in a coma with no brain function. Are they no longer the image of God because they cannot think, reason, or act morally? Or what about a baby still learning to think, reason, and act morally? Are they less of the image of God?

Whatever the image of God is, it must apply to all kinds of humans, regardless of status or ability. Thus, we learn in Scripture that God's image is a status given to us by God. This status cannot be earned. It can only be bestowed by the Creator.

To be the image of God means that we have been appointed as his royal and priestly ambassadors here on Earth. It means that we are the rightful co-rulers of creation by an appointment of grace and are being called to rise to the challenge of bringing God's order into a chaotic world.

In the Bible, the idea of being in God's image is tied to the idea of having God's glory. For example, in Psalm 8, we learn that we have been crowned with God's glory and honor as humans. However, we later learn that humanity's purpose has taken a tragic turn. Romans 3:23 says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Do you remember the Netflix show "Jupiter's Legacy?" No? Well, I didn't think you would. This forgettable series was canceled after less than a month of streaming despite its $200 million budget! What we can say about this show is that it fell short of its glory.

Similarly, humanity has missed the mark of its royal and priestly design. We were designed for glory, yet we have fallen short of it as we turn to lesser glories like power, success, fame, or fortune. But in the end, none of those glories can compare to the original glory we were made for, so we end up just as empty as when we started. But Christ Jesus brings us a new Hope.

Philippians 2:1-11 tells us that we were never given an identity that could be defined by power or success. This path of glory is modeled to us by the life of Jesus. Jesus shows us that the way up is, in fact, down. Rather than chasing power and success, he pursued service and sacrifice. We build our lives around becoming full only to come up empty, but Jesus looked to become empty and came up full of glory! His humility resulted in the ultimate exaltation – he was seated at the Father's right hand, thus showing us what it means to be a true human.

Our mission at Liberty Christian School is to help our students develop a view of themselves that includes the biblical idea of what it means to be made in the image of God. We want them to become people who go into the darkness willing to shine their light through acts of service and sacrifice. We want to show them the way of Jesus and help them avoid pursuing fleeting glories that ultimately fail to deliver true purpose.

But parents and families, please understand: this message isn't just true for your children. It's true for us all. We all bear God's image and are meant to reflect his glory.

And this glory is not tied to how many business deals we close, what college we get our kids into, or what social circles we can be a part of. We are meant for a much more valuable glory that can only be demonstrated by how low we are willing to go in our humility and love for others.

Thus, let us encourage our children to pursue a better glory by pursuing that better glory ourselves so that long after the credits have ended on our show, we may have an eternal legacy and not one that is soon forgotten.

Alex Arredondo serves as a Bible teacher in the Upper School at Liberty Christian School.