What do you see when you past an unhoused person in your community?
Who do you see in the people involved in the drug deal you saw happen across the parking lot?
Do you try to ignore or walk more quickly past the person doing drugs on the sidewalk?
How do you react when someone whose behaviour doesn't fall in the boxes of what's normal walks into the space you are in?
I've had a few conversations recently that made me think about questions like these. They're not easy questions to think about or answer.
We all have an initial reaction. And I would guess that for most of us, it's a pretty judgemental response. Even as someone who works at an organization where we interact with those who are unhoused, people struggling with addiction and mental health challenges, and those whose lives don't fall within society's norms, I can be pretty quickly judgemental of what I see.
But, God is gracious enough to remind me that every person I see, no matter what their life looks like has value and is loved and is far more than what others see.
He reminds me as I hand a cheque to someone I grew up with, knowing they're going to go straight to the cheque-cashing place down the block to cash it to buy drugs. The money belongs to this person, so I have to give it to them. As I do, I remember how they found the humor and made everyone laugh all the time growing up.
God reminds me as I run into someone else I grew up with and they thank me for how I handled our last interaction. The last time I saw them they were very drunk and stumbling. I didn't push them away; instead, I wrapped my arms around them in a hug as they fell towards me. They didn't remember our conversation from that day, but they remembered that I put my plans aside and grabbed a couple coffees and sat with them while we waited for a safe ride home for them.
I didn't see in the moment of these situations how God was gracious to me in them. If you'd asked me at the time, I would have told you that I wished they hadn't happened. But, in the last few years, I've become incredibly grateful for these interactions, because they've taught me a life-changing lesson.
Genesis 1:26-27 says:
"Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness' . . .So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them."
All of humanity is created in the image of God. It's part of our DNA. It's part of who we are.
The fall has buried that. It's difficult to see in probably most of the people you see on a daily basis. But it changes everything when we remember that.
These two people I grew up with were created in the image of God and they're loved by God.
The person who is unhoused is created in the image of God and they're loved by God.
The people involved in the drug deal are created in the image of God and they're loved by God.
The person struggling with addiction is created in the image of God and they're loved by God.
The person whose behaviour doesn't fit in is created in the image of God and they're loved by God.
When I remind myself that every single person I see in a day is created in the image of God and loved by God, it changes my thoughts and, as a result, it changes my actions. I don't look at certain people with disgust; I see them with compassion and love, as people who are worthy of respect simply because they're people created in the image of God and loved by God. I no longer wish harsh realities or death on people.
Instead of seeing the things that are easy to judge people for, I begin to look for glimpses of who God created them to be and call them out in them- even as they struggle and circumstances may not change.
So, I leave you with the question I'm continuing to wrestle with: How would you see and treat people, who you normally judge, differently if you reminded yourself that everyone is created in the image of God and loved by God?
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