After the fall, something interesting happens.
Up to this point, Genesis keeps referring to “the man” and “the woman.” But in Genesis 3:20, Adam gives the woman a name:
Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
Her name is now connected to what she will do.
And that feels very familiar to the way we still see people today.
We tend to identify people by what they do.
She’s an athlete.
He’s the smart kid.
She’s the funny one.
He’s the pastor.
She’s the successful one.
He’s the screw-up.
We put labels on people based on their job, reputation, talents, failures, or what they can produce.
But that is not how God first introduces humanity.
Before Adam or Eve had accomplished anything, before they had a job title, before they had succeeded or failed, God had already said they were made in His image.
Their value came from who they were, not what they did.
That is an important difference.
We usually look at each other from the outside in. We see what someone does, what they are good at, what they have messed up, or what they can offer us.
God sees us from the inside out.
He sees a person made in His image.
And this matters even more after Genesis 3, because now Adam and Eve have failed in a pretty spectacular way. But God does not stop seeing them as His creation. He still comes looking for them. He still speaks to them. He still cares for them.
Their failure changes a lot, but it does not erase who they are.
That is something we need to remember about ourselves and about other people.
What you do matters, but it is not the deepest truth about who you are.
God sees you as more than your grades, your sport, your job, your popularity, your mistakes, or your success.
And if God sees people that way, we should try to see each other that way too.
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