I’ve been sitting with a line from Pastor Thomas’s sermon all week.
“It is not to us to condemn—but we were given the ministry of reconciliation.”

That one sentence has turned over and over in my heart, sifting the ways I’ve looked at people, spoken about people, distanced myself from people. It’s brought me back to something so central, so deeply rooted in the heart of God, that it should shape every part of how we live:
Every human being is an image bearer of God.

Every single one.
The neighbor who waves kindly from across the street.
The stranger who cuts us off in traffic.
The friend who fails us.
The person whose lifestyle, politics, theology, or choices feel far from our own.
The hurting. The hardened. The hopeful. The hardened.

Image bearers.

Not one of us is more made in God’s image than another. That’s not how this works. And yet… how quickly we forget. How quickly we divide and other and judge.

But here’s the thing—Scripture is crystal clear on the posture we’re called to carry:

“He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20)

Not ambassadors of condemnation. Not gatekeepers of who is “in” and who is “out.”
Ambassadors of reconciliation. Bearers of a message that restores and heals and mends.
That message is love.

Jesus summed up the entirety of the law and the prophets with two commands:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
And love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–40)

Not “love those who vote like you.”
Not “love those who are easy to get along with.”
Not “love those who follow the rules you think matter most.”
Just…
Love.

Love God. Love people.
Period.

I’m reminded that Jesus, who had every right to judge, chose instead to draw near.
To touch the leper.
To eat with sinners.
To welcome the outcast.
To forgive the ones who betrayed and denied and crucified Him.

If He did not come into the world to condemn it (John 3:17), then how dare we take up that mantle?
We weren’t called to condemnation.
We were called to compassion.
To truth wrapped in grace.
To courage that lays down pride for presence.

So here’s the invitation I’m holding today, and maybe you are too:
To see every person—every person—as an image bearer of the Most High God.
To lay down the need to be right, and pick up the call to be reconcilers.
To love when it’s easy, and especially when it’s not.
Because the love of Christ compels us.

And maybe, just maybe, when we lead with love, we make room for the kind of transformation that only God can bring.