Seeing Christ in Others
By: Sarah F
Seeing Christ in others is an interesting ideology. Does it mean to perceive every individual that you come across as Christ? Is that even possible to see every individual as Christ? Some would say that there are individuals that represent the complete opposite of Christ! How then can we see Christ in them?
Each individual, regardless of whether they appear good or bad, has an innate desire for happiness. However, this yearning can only be fulfilled with Christ. Not everyone seeks the same way to fill this desire, some resort to Christ whilst others to worldly desires. Despite bearing on outward façade of contentment, internally people may be warring between themselves feeling a metaphorical sense of hunger or thirst, estrangement or nakedness, sickness and imprisonment.
In Mathew 25:35-50 Jesus says, 35 “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Christ is directly warning us that what we do to any individual we come across, we do to him. That is to say, regardless of the outward appearance, whether good or bad, religion or belief, parents or strangers, the way in which we treat people is a measure of how we treat Christ.
God asks of us to be filled with love in order to love and to see Him in others, however the only way to achieve this is to be filled with Him who is Love. This evident in Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself ‘.40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Glory be to God, Amen