“And just as we have borne
the image of the man
made of dust,
we will also bear
the image of the heavenly man.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:49 (HCSB)
God showed me something at the shopping mall. Every individual was beautiful before me;
every unique soul, living a matchless life, in the service of hope, for a
purpose they determined as best. As I
looked everywhere, all about me was the same image; myriads of people, all
beautiful, all beloved, all bearing the same resemblance. And as I looked, God did something in my
heart; all indifference, intolerance, and cynicism ebbed away, and with it, all
vanity. Suddenly, my heart was so full
of love, my mind had no space for anything else.
This experience lasted ten minutes. Then I became my troubled self all over
again.
But God proved something to me.
The more we see what is patently true in every person, the more we see
what’s true within ourselves — we’re all due love. To love and be loved. If we can determine that another person is
due love, surely we’ll ascribe the same beneficence to ourselves.
As I looked about me in the shopping mall — a menagerie of cultures,
colours, and creeds to be seen — I saw the common plight of humanity: the
striving of each one for a life of hope, for justice and mercy, and a life of
purpose. With purpose, all humanity can
struggle through, but without purpose any privileged life is a prison.
Our personalities make it possible that we could worship and
serve God. And when we worship and serve
God, we’re closest to bearing His image.
But whether we worship or serve Him or not, we still bear His image, even
as we bear the image of Adam in our sin.
***
When we realise that every single human being is sacred,
precious in God’s sight, not for what they’ve done, but for who they are, then
we begin interacting with all life differently.
And, whilst we ought not to idolise another human being, we worship and
serve God well when we love those who bear His image.
When our hearts of full of love, our minds have no space for
indifference or hatred.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
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