There is a truth so simple, so pure, that we often pass right over it.
Lesson 162 of A Course in Miracles brings us back to it with these words:
I am as God created me.
This is a return to something you’ve always known deep down. A quiet recognition that the truth of your being was never lost. You were created in love, and nothing has changed that. You may have believed other stories. You may have carried guilt, shame, or the sense that something in you is wrong. But none of that altered the truth.
In the creation story, we are told God made humankind in His own image. Genesis doesn’t describe a flawed start or a partial effort. It says
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27.)
This is not the image of fear, lack, or unworthiness. It is the image of spirit, of holiness, of divine presence within. The world may have taught you something else, but what God created remains untouched.
The writer of Ecclesiastes speaks to the permanence of what God does. He says:
“I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14.)
If God made you, then your true identity has never been under threat. You can’t improve it, and you can’t damage it. You can only forget it for a while. The purpose of this lesson is to remember.
Psalm 139 offers a deeply personal reflection on being made by God. The psalmist writes:
“I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14.)
The Course echoes that knowing. This kind of knowing lives in the background of your awareness. It may not come as a thought, but as a quiet settling—a sense of truth that doesn’t need to be explained. A deep, inner recognition that you are more than what the world has called you. The mind may question it, but the heart already knows.
In Ephesians, Paul offers a glimpse into this same truth from a different angle:
“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10.)
The focus here is not on earning your worth through action, but on remembering that you were formed with divine intention. You are the work of God’s hands, and living from that truth naturally brings forth a life that reflects it. The “good works” are not a requirement—they are a response. When you remember who you are, love becomes the natural expression.
This is a reminder that you are not here by accident. You were made with care, with purpose, with love. That original imprint is still present. And the more you live from it, the more it shines through you.
Romans reminds us that guilt has no place where grace has spoken.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1.)
You are not condemned. You are not broken. This lesson is an invitation to drop the weight of past conclusions and rest in the innocence that was always yours.
And finally, in First John we hear:
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2.)
There is nothing new to become. Only something true to recognize. The more clearly you see God, the more naturally your real self becomes visible. To see God is to remember who you are.
The Course holds these words—I am as God created me—with reverence. They don’t require belief or effort. Just willingness. They are enough to quiet the mind, undo illusion, and bring light to the world.
Daily Reflection:
-
What are the names or identities you’ve taken on that feel unlike what God created?
(e.g., failure, victim, provider, addict, perfectionist . . .) -
What would change today if you truly believed you were still as God created you?
Would you walk differently, speak differently, forgive more easily? -
What illusion still feels stronger than this truth?
Can you gently place it in God’s hands and ask to see it differently?