The Face of God

I was recently grieved while sitting in church and unable to concentrate after I experienced the shock of what I saw. As I sat and listened to our pastor giving a wonderful talk on love and how we were to love our neighbors as ourselves, I saw a man in front of me hit his child and give the little boy a dark and steely glare. I gasped inwardly and my spirit ached with sadness that this man I saw every week, who was supposedly listening intently to the sermon would hit his tiny little son with so much contempt and disgust just because the little boy was getting fidgety. The irony of the situation was thick, with words from the sermon like love and gentleness pairing with a visual of the exact opposite. I think it was the first time I have experienced so fully the hypocrisy that is often found in the church due to endless and unnecessary religiosity.

 Seeing this made me think very deeply about my own life. We, and I mean all of us Christians, are to be the hands and feet of Christ. Christ's hands are not to strike out in anger or wound others, but rather to heal and touch lovingly.  

Every action of mine will affect someone in either a positive or negative way. Even the slightest snippy comment can change the way someone's day is going. We have the wonderful opportunity to not only see God's face when we choose to love, but to show God's face to those we are loving. 

I must remember that however I treat the lowest and most depraved person, I treat Jesus directly, and whatever I say to the most annoying and grating person, I say to Jesus. As Victor Hugo said in his massively read book Les Miserables, 

“To love another person is to see the face of God.”