Seeing the Divine

How we view the people around us effects every interaction we have. And when we take our cues from how the world tells us to view people, we can find ourselves believing only what we're presented with on the surface. #love #ChristianBlog

I like chocolate. A lot. Dark chocolate. I keep a small stash of dark chocolate. It’s not that it’s a secret stash that I’m unwilling to share. It just happens to be where very few people can find it. Anyway, these little dark chocolates I keep have little cutesy sayings on the inside of the wrappers. I think they are supposed to be uplifting. Some are, but some are just down right pointless or even stupid. 

I was eating a chocolate yesterday and the saying in the wrapper caught my eye: “Try to see the humanity in everyone you meet.” I thought about that half a second and promptly decided that has got to be one of the dumbest sayings they’ve had in there so far. Personally, I have no trouble seeing “humanity” in people – especially myself. Is “humanity” supposed to be a complimentary thing to see? 

Personally, what I really need to work on is seeing the divine in people! Now, calm down, I am not saying that people are little demigods. I’m saying that each and every one of us is made in the image of God. Once we accept Him as our Savior, we are all endowed with the potential of actually being “imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1) and putting “on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). 

It is said that many Jews have the habit of not stepping on the least scrap of paper that lies on the ground lest the name of God be written on it. This may sound a bit extreme and I am not necessarily advising it. But how often do we trample upon one another – treating as refuse those who have the very fingerprints of God upon them? Each human being we come in contact with each day is known and loved by our Father and Jesus Christ has given His life for him. 

I’ve spent many years endeavoring to renew my mind to the reality that in spite of my glaring “humanity,” I am the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21); I am “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17); I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37); I am God’s dearly loved child (1 John 3:1). All this is good and appropriate, but I need to remember that just as I am all these wonderful things, so is every believer! I need to treat my brothers and sisters in Christ as righteous new creations that are more than conquerors! I need to see each one as a dearly loved child of God! 

And those who aren’t my brothers and sisters in Christ yet? Heaven forbid my actions ever do anything to deter them from becoming one! They too are made in God’s image and are loved by Him. Hopefully they can catch a glimpse of Him by the way I treat them. 

No, I need no help seeing the “humanity” in people. The selfishness and arrogance that are so readily apparent as a part of our human natures are quite evident in all of us. I need grace to see the stamp of God on myself and my fellow fallen friends. 

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:4-5

For more on “Giving God a Hand,” click HERE!