Where do we see God’s image? When we look at friends, family, people we encounter every day, do we see past outer appearance and see Gods image in them?
I think that’s what God wants from us. I think that God’s very best plan is for us to find God’s love and grace in one another. It means that we open ourselves to other people, not just what we readily see, but what lies within. God wants us to live with others, soul to soul, finding our transformation in extraordinary human relationship.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us some valuable insight on seeing the image of God in others.
Within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation who hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every person and see deep down within what religion calls “the image of God,” you begin to love in spite of. No matter what the person does, you see God’s image there.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
“Loving Your Enemies” (From a sermon proclaimed at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, 1957)
It is unfortunately true that I have always been reluctant to love my enemies, much less to see God’s image in them. It’s a difficult thing to do. Yet, that is precisely what God asks us to do. And in doing that, we are transformed and are suddenly able to see God more fully and clearly.
A wise man once wrote that the way to fullness of life is to see God in others and in ourselves. Would that we could do just that.
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 