Seeing People as God Sees Them

November 6 , 2024

How do you know if you’re looking at life from God’s viewpoint? Think about the way you see other people. All other people. People who think like you and who don’t. People who believe what you believe and people who don’t. People who are easy to love and people who aren’t.

This is a great test of your spiritual maturity—better than asking how much of the Bible you know, how often you go to church, or whether you serve, tithe, or pray.

1 Corinthians 1:1-13 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.”

This is saying, if you do something without love, it doesn’t count. Love is the most important thing to God. In fact, life is all about love and relationships. So, if you want to gauge your spiritual maturity, think about how you see other people.

Let me ask you some pointed questions.

How does God see your spouse? Valuable. Acceptable. Lovable. Forgivable. Is that the way you see your spouse?

How about the stranger at the grocery store? The person who cut you off in traffic? The beggar on the street? What do you see when you look at other people? Do you see them as irritations or burdens?

What about the people you work with? Do you see them as enemies? Competition? Or do you see them the way God sees them?

How about people who have wronged you?

All people matter to God.

It doesn’t matter who they are, what they’ve done, or even what they believe. Christ died for them. Jesus loves them. God has a plan for every person, and he wants them to have a relationship with him.

The Bible says in Mark 6:34, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (NIV).

That’s the way Jesus sees people. And that’s the way you can grow to see people too.

I encourage you to ask God to transform the way you see and love people around you.