I am GOD'S creation!

Our Bible Study is studying the book of James for the next 5 weeks, and every week we get to rotate teachers. Well, this week it was my turn! I got to teach on James 3, which has to do with the taming of the tongue. And at first I was like, this is just gonna be the typical gossip passage about not ripping people apart with your tongue and respecting them because they're created in the image of God and blah blah blah....
WRONG.
I was reading through the passage and stumbled across James 3:9-10.
"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praising and cursing, my brothers and sisters this should not be."
I've always taken this passage to mean, respect others because they're made in the image of God and therefore you should treat them like you wanted to be treated. But when I was reading through it this afternoon all of a sudden it was reflected back on me. For the first time.

All these lies that we believe about ourselves. "I'm not good enough." "I'm not beautiful enough." "No one will ever love me for me." Those aren't just lies about US. They're lies about who GOD created us to be!! We're not just having insecurities and issues with ourselves. We're having issues with a being created in the image of the MOST. HIGH. GOD.

It reminds me of that verse in 1 Samuel 8:7 where God tells Samuel, "it is not you they have rejected....they have rejected me." Of course, it's in a different context, but I feel like the concept still applies. When we look at people and pick them apart, and when we look at OURSELVES and believe SATAN'S. LIES. we're saying that God didn't do a good enough job when He created us. And how DARE we question the God of the universe?

This was just kind of a WHOA moment for me because it's never hit me like that before. We're created in the image of GOD. GOD. God who created the UNIVERSE God. God who......is sovereign and omnipotent and ALL powerful and completely beyond our grasp! Created us! In HIS image!
Such a cool concept. and so beyond what we deserve.