How do we restore the image God in us?

We ought to look upon this divine gift, i.e., His image, as a precious talent that we should not neglect. When we corrupted this gift, He who loves us did not abandon us in our loss. He therefore descended to us and attained our salvation by offering Himself as a sacrifice for us, thus restoring our lost image to us. It behooves us henceforth not to neglect this precious image. This is what our Lord Christ affirmed when He said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21).

The scholar Origen gives us an allegorical interpretation of these words of the Lord, saying, “There are two images in man. One he received from God when he was made … The other image is earthly (1 Cor. 15:49). Man received this second image later. He was expelled from Paradise on account of disobedience and sin, after the ‘prince of this world’ (John 12:31) had tempted him with his enticements. For, just as the coin, or denarius, has an image of the emperor of this world, so he who does the works of ‘the ruler of the darkness’ (Eph. 6:12) bears the image of him whose works he does. Jesus commanded that that image should be handed over and cast away from our face. He wills us to take on that image according to which we were made from the beginning, according to God's likeness. And thus it happens that we give ‘to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what is God’s’ … Paul also uttered this conclusion and said, ‘As we bear the image of the earthly man, we should also bear the image of the heavenly man’ (1 Cor. 15:49). When Christ says, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,’ he means this: ‘Put off the person of the earthly man, cast off the earthly image, so that you can put on yourselves the person of the heavenly man and give ‘to God what is God’s.’”⁴⁶⁸

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “The soul of each one of us is his talent and it bears the great image of Divinity. Do not bury it in the world of filthy lusts, thus corrupting the great image portrayed upon the soul. The Judge will demand this image from you; so go forth and present it to Him, lest His image be defaced because of you. If you cannot make a profit like the steward (Luke 16:2), then return to Him unblemished that which He gave you. As the image of the king is clearly imprinted on the denarius, so the great image of divinity is engraved on the soul. If the beautiful image imprinted on the soul is corrupted, it will be rejected before God and will not be accepted. The Lord who depicted in us His great likeness; His great compassion will defend us on the Last Day, and save us.”⁴⁶⁹