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“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us.”  I John 4:12 (ESV)

Absolutely love this quote from Max Lucado: “Every person you see was created by God to be His image and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. High IQ or low standing, first string or cut from the squad – doesn’t matter. Every human being is God’s idea, and He has no bad ideas.”

Wow this quote really hits home especially when we think of those people who are challenging to work with, those people in our lives who push our buttons and those people we don’t even know who bump into our happy. From the nicest to the cruelest, we all started out the same – a human being created in God’s image.

Convicts me to the core – do I treat others with dignity and respect even if they are my biggest irritation? Had to really dig deep on that one. Work or ministry is one of those places where we are forced into community with lots of different personalities, egos, backgrounds, etc. Makes it ever so easy to excuse myself away from the respect issue. However, God doesn’t release me that easily. Throughout scripture He instructs us to love others  – yes even those created in His image who are difficult, irritating and rude. Now loving others doesn’t mean we accept disrespectful behavior, abuse, etc. It simply means we realize they were created in God’s image, and we respond with respect by speaking truth in love.

So easy to say – hard to put into practice. Last week, I was faced with a situation where I could have ignored a person who was struggling to get something done – did I mention their personality drives me crazy? This individual needed help in figuring out what was going wrong – I knew what was going wrong. It was so tempting to simply let them struggle, but God kept bringing me back to the “love others” factor. While it was hard, I surrendered to God’s desire rather than treating them the way I desired. One victory propels another – I won’t get this right all the time, but it definitely reminded me it’s truly not about that person or me – it’s about honoring God by loving those created in His image.

Sweet friends is there a person in your path who is challenging? One way we can grow God’s love in our hearts is to plant prayer seeds for that individual. Yes, you got it! Simply praying for the one pushing those buttons helps us see the person from God’s perspective. One prayer at a time, we will witness a change within us as those love seeds blossom and flourish. Let’s determine to glorify God by respecting and loving others the way God intended.

“Father thank You for challenging us in our interactions with others. Thank You for reminding us that we are all created in Your image. Help us as we navigate another week to pause before we react to others whether they are a co-worker, spouse, family or strangers. And enable us to treat them with respect and dignity.”

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life