People are people

I sometimes wonder how much of the mess in this world can be traced back to our failure to acknowledge that people are people. All you need to do is turn on the TV or crack open a history book, and you will see sharply drawn lines of division.

These lines run deep and are as old as the Fall. Relationships became adversarial. Conflict sprang up between the man and the woman, between brother and brother, and these scenarios are still being repeated on a seemingly endless loop.

God's common grace does come to us through the means of education and legal reforms for which I am very grateful. But they can only do so much because they can only address the outside. In the end, the change has to happen from the inside out.

I don't believe we can treat people as people until we are humbled at the foot of the cross. When we see the underserved love and favor of God extended to us through the death of Jesus Christ, self-importance, entitlement, and superiority are given a fatal blow. "Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling." The Holy Spirit also begins the work of renewing our minds. He changes our hearts to love God and to love our neighbors because they are people made in God's image, too.

I don't have any pretensions of changing the world. I'm getting too old for that. But recognizing and respecting every person as an image bearer of God will change how I react, how I interact, and how I pray.

This seems like a good place to start.