PROTECT THE IMAGE

Emma handed out invitations for her party to her classmates. Everyone thanked her except Tom, who grabbed the invitation and ripped it in half. Emma yelled, “What are you doing?!” “I’m not going to come to your party,” said Tom, “so why pretend?” Emma replied, “Because that’s not how you treat people!”

Emma’s right. That’s a horrible way to treat another person. But it’s also how we sometimes treat God. James noticed how we praise God and then turn around and “curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness” (JAMES 3:9). Our gossip, mean comments and name-calling attack other people who are the image or picture of God.

Many religions guard the image of their gods. Only the true God lets His image loose in the world. His image carriers—us—are weak and often mess up. It’s way too easy to attack each other and put our classmates down.

We would never rip up the picture of a friend. Yet we slash at the image of God every time we hurt others with our words. Thankfully this works both ways. If mean words scar the image of God, then kind words uphold and protect it.

How we treat others can be a good indicator of how we view God’s image. Do we respect others as being God’s creation? Or do we remove God from the picture?

Thinking it over . . .

How do you feel when you learn that others are gossiping about you? How might your words and actions change if you remembered people are the image of God?