How we see people has a huge impact on how we interact with them. If you expect the worst from someone, that’s what you will see and you will be tempted to treat them with contempt. If you expect the best of someone, you will tend to engage with empathy and connections.
This post was prompted by a conversation with a good friend this morning. He was feeling drained from conversations with hateful people, and honestly, I understood. I’ve felt that same fatigue and frustration. But instead of offering him the empathy he needed, I jumped too quickly to a “solution.” Still, beneath my response, I believe there is a truth that has the power to transform how we experience others.
We were made in the image of God. Then we turned away from Him—breaking His heart, our own character, and the world around us. And yet, even in the brokenness, remnants of that original beauty remain.
A cracked mirror still reflects. In the same way, flawed people still reflect the glory of God. My dear friend Lynne Fox often reminds me that there is no such thing as pure evil—only the corruption of something originally good. When we learn to recognize that glimmer of God’s image in others—the divine spark, if you will—it changes everything. I believe this is one of the great secrets to truly living into the Kingdom of God, this enables people to experience the Camino spirit.
Jesus saw the fractured reflection of God in people. You can see it in his compassion, in how he responded to the broken, the outcast, the sinner. He saw what they could be, not just what they were.
Many great spiritual leaders have shared this way of seeing. Mother Teresa, inspired by Matthew 25:40, wrote:
We try to pray through our work by doing it with Jesus, for Jesus, to Jesus. That’s why we are able to see Him in the broken body, in the abandoned child, in the hungry man. Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.
C.S. Lewis explored this idea in The Weight of Glory. Thomas Merton reportedly experienced a moment of clarity in which he saw people in their true, radiant dignity. The book Abandon to God recounts how Oswald Chambers had an extraordinary ability to be fully present with others—I wonder if that was because he saw God in each person, recognizing that God was right there in the moment.
I have found that when I intentionally look for God’s image in people, I can find it. And when I do, my interactions shift. Conversations become richer, relationships more meaningful. But if I’m not looking for the good, it’s all too easy to focus on flaws, to be irritated, disappointed, or even cynical.
I know I’m only scratching the surface here, and I want to explore this further. But even if this thought is incomplete, it feels too important to delay sharing.
Related
- My “Samaritan” Experiment
- Against Contempt
- Movies about Hope, for example Refuge
