Brothers and Sisters

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...So God created man in His image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."  (Genesis 1:26-27)  Is it really true?  How can it be that every person who stands before us through the span of a day is one bearing the image of God?  Maybe this is something Jesus had in mind when He spoke to His disciples that Word about feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, and giving a drink to the thirsty.  (Matthew 25) 

 

Maybe it was inconceivable to Jesus that a back would be turned, a cold shoulder turned, or a degrading word spoken to someone who bore the image of the Creator.  If it was to him, and surely it was, it is not so for us.  Too many times we have been careless about the ones who stand in our path.  Too many times we have seen the externals, the clothes, the filth, and status symbols instead of seeing the reality of divine presence being present with us through the presence of another.

 

I remember a song from much earlier days which had a line in it that said, "If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused one foot to go astray, Dear Lord, forgive."   None of us would intentionally wound the body, heart, or spirit of another, but it happens inadvertently through hurried and careless living.  As we begin to understand this image of God stuff to mean that every single person bears His image, it surely causes us to see ourselves differently and the people around us as well.  After all, if we all bear the same image, we must be brother and sisters.