In The Beginning: Being Fully Alive
Summary and Discussion Questions
Based on a sermon by Pastor Trent Thomas
Sunday, April 26, 2026 | Christ Hills Church in Monroe, NC
Genesis 1:26-31
The narrative in Genesis gives more than an account of creation, it gives us our origin story. Without it, we can spend years trying to feel alive in ways that never deliver.
So often we live as if being fully alive is just around the corner. If our job eased up, if relationships healed, if circumstances finally lined up, then we could exhale and experience life the way it was meant to be. But that mindset keeps us trapped, always on the verge, never arriving. So close, and yet so far.
The first people to hear the message of Genesis chapter one understood this feeling. Spending a lifetime as slaves in Egypt taught them to wait. Generations had lived and died for 400 years under the oppression of Pharoah. It isn’t hard to imagine the questions that come up in a place like that: Who are we? What are we here for? Is this all life has to offer? Into this confusion, God spoke with clarity and purpose: “Let us make mankind in our image.”
Every human being — every man, women, and child (born and unborn) — bears the image of God. Not partially. Not potentially. Fully. This means your worth, value, identity, and purpose are not prizes you win or projects you complete. They are gifts you receive from the One who made you.
And God didn’t stop with the miracle of creating us. He blessed us. He gave humanity a commission: to rule over His creation, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth, to have dominion over every living thing. In other words, God told us to spread His image across the entire world. We are like living statues of the King, placed in His creation to represent Him wherever we go. Pause for a moment and let that profound concept move from your head to your heart.
That’s what it means to be fully alive — not climbing higher, but reflecting better.
From the start, we were made to live in harmony with God, with each other, and with creation itself. In the beginning, there was no death, no rivalry, no hidden shame. Humanity stood as the crown of God’s handiwork, uniquely designed to know Him and make Him known.
Yet we drift toward doing rather than being. We measure our lives by accomplishments instead of identity. We compare, compete, and strive. Instead of accepting our identity as image bearers, we attempt to assemble an identity from scratch, and in the process we refuse what God actually formed us to be. This never works out very well. Something always feels off.
Why is this the case? It’s because we can’t be fully alive apart from the One whose image we carry. Jesus speaks directly to this longing in John 10:10. He came that we might have life, and life to the fullest. That fullness doesn’t come by trying harder. It comes through change that God works in us. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, we are being changed into God’s image from one degree of glory to another. This is a process, and it takes time. And 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it plainly. In Christ, we are new creations.
Once you start seeing yourself that way, you begin to see everyone else differently too. If every person bears God’s image, then even the most difficult, irritating, and different person you encounter carries a divine imprint. That becomes a grounding truth that can motivate you towards love, compassion, and patience. Dismissing someone gets harder when you remember that they were made in the image of the same God who made you.
We also begin to see that God’s original mandate still echoes today. “Be fruitful and multiply” has a spiritual counterpart in the Great Commission. Go and make disciples. Why? In order to fill the earth with more image bearers who know God, worship Him, and reflect His glory.
You see, being fully alive is not about building an impressive resume. It’s about living a faithful life. It’s about knowing your Creator so deeply that His likeness becomes easier to see in you. You don’t have to wait for conditions to improve before you can live this way. You don’t have to earn it, prove it, or chase it down. You only need to remember that you are His. You belong to the One True Who created everything out of nothing by the power of His spoken Word. Wow!
When you know your Creator, your identity begins to make sense. And when you understand your identity, then your cup overflows, and you can finally live — to the fullest.
Questions for Reflection & Discussion:
Where do you catch yourself “waiting” to feel fully alive instead of embracing the identity God has already given you? In other words, what’s in your way and blocking you from living a full life in Christ?
If every person is an image bearer of God, how does that challenge the way you treat those who are difficult, irritating, or different from yourself?
Are you currently living more from a place of doing or being? What would it look like to rest more fully in who God created you to be?