R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Published by christi on July 29, 2021July 29, 2021

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

How I treat other humans is a function of how I view other humans. 

If I respond to them as annoyances or as servants, co-laborers or competitors, or whether I regard them at all is because of how I see them. The important truth that I must understand is that no other creature bears the image of God.

 All of God‘s creation displays certain aspects of his glory, of his nature, but none other is made in his image. Some animals use tools, others use language, many cooperate in rearing the young or building shelter for their communities, some even create art! But no other creature has been designed for relationship with God.

The Genesis account of creation lets us know that once man was created from the dust of the ground, God breathed His own life into Him. No other creature has this privilege.

This is true whether the human is despicable or delightful. The same care has gone into his creation. The same price has been paid for her rescue from an eternity of isolation and pain. 

For those who have accepted this daring rescue, bearing the image of our Creator carries an even greater significance: being part of a portrait of God. 

In the bathroom at my eye doctor’s office hung a collage of thousands of tiny headshots, a dizzying display of diversity when seen from close up. However when I stepped away from it just a couple of feet, I could see it was a portrait of one face. This is how the body of Christ, the company of the redeemed, displays the image of God. All our faces together describing the face of Jesus. So, when I see another follower of Jesus, I am seeing a bit of the face of God. 

When I see another human of any kind, or color, of any belief, of any decay, I am seeing a reflection of the face of God.

 So if I happen to meet you, and you notice that I call you “Sir” or “Ma’am,” or I bow my head a bit or drop a courtesy, it is because I see the face of God In you. 

This is what it means to respect.

And in this I desire to grow as I am

Following Jesus every day in the everyday,

Christi