It is an old theme from the Torah, i.e., "I treat people with honor because they bear the image of God within them." Creation is treated well because God made it. Authority is respected because God established it. People are honored because God placed his image in them.
Yet I sit here today struggling with respecting some authorities. In the past month, two friends have become unemployed because of ridiculous laws or rules. They were highly competent and yet lost their position. Somewhere along the way, the authorities lost focus on treating people as images of the Creator God. The result was that law was respected but the image of God was dishonored. The actions of the authorities did not reflect the hand of God.
The scary part is that I can so easily do the same thing. All it takes is focusing upon rules instead of people. Is he right or wrong? Is she a Christian or not? Do they measure up to my standards or not? All are rules based evaluations of people to whom I owe a debt of honor as bearers of the image of God.
May God be merciful to my efforts and may my efforts be to honor rather than judge others.
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