an eikon of God? i.e. image of God

How have you viewed humans being created in God's image?
What does that implicate in your thinking?
DO YOU THINK FOR TOO LONG THIS HAS BEEN LEFT OUT OF THE GOSPEL STORY?

A small group I'm involved in is walking through Embracing Grace from Scot McKnight. Last night's chapter, The Beginning of the Gospel, (cf. Gen. 1:26-27, 2:8-15, Psalms 8) asks the question: where does the gospel start?

McKnight's insight is that being an image bearer gives us freedom to choose to follow God or not, and the DNA for relationships. Therefore Eikons (as he uses the Greek word) makes us capable of relationship with God and others for the good of our world.

If it starts with being an image bearer of God, how does that change our view of humanity? Maybe your view of the gospel story?

What's your take on being an image bearer of God?

Quotes:

When God made humans, he gave them hearts, souls, minds, bodies, and wills to make them individuals; God gave them other individuals just like themselves so they could live in community; and he gave them a world in which to live. Into this world God set Adam and Eve to be Eikons, to be visible bodies that reflect the glory of God.

The gospel is about every one of these dimensions of human life-the human's relationship to herself and himself, to God, to others, and to the world and to the society in which we live.

We are by nature Eikons-humans designed to relate to God and others for the good of our world.
By nature we are designed with the inalienable right to be embraced and to embrace: embracing God who made us and embracing ourselves, embracing others, and embracing our world.
The gospel that tells ourstory begins with this beginning.