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.

In a world aching under the weight of injustice, oppression, and inequity, it is right and holy to rise up in defense of those who are silenced, mistreated, and marginalized. Scripture calls us to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8). Jesus Himself overturned tables, confronted religious hypocrisy, and consistently stood with the least of these.

But there is a caution here, too—a sobering reminder we cannot afford to ignore: In our zeal to stand for justice, we must not lose sight of love.

Because if we’re not careful, we can become what we oppose.

We can become so consumed with proving a point that we forget to love people.

We can become so devoted to calling out injustice that we begin to see others only as enemies, not image-bearers.

We can begin to divide, to label, to dehumanize—thinking we’re fighting the good fight, when in fact, we’re slowly trading in compassion for contempt.

This is not the way of Christ.

Jesus never compromised truth—but He also never lost sight of love. He corrected, but He never canceled. He called people to repentance, but He looked them in the eye while doing it. He flipped tables in the temple, but He wept over the city.

His battle was always against the systems that crushed souls—not the souls themselves.

We are living in a time when outrage is easy. And when the cause feels righteous, it’s tempting to justify cruelty in the name of conviction. But the fruit of the Spirit has not changed: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). These are not signs of weakness. They are signs of Christlikeness.

So how do we stand firm without hardening our hearts?

How do we fight injustice without becoming unjust?

We begin with humility. We examine our own motivations. We remember that the call to love our enemies wasn’t a suggestion—it was a command (Matthew 5:44). And we resist the urge to “other” people, even as we resist the systems that harm them.

Because if our fight for justice leads us to hate, to mock, or to devalue, we are no longer aligned with the Gospel.

We must hold truth and love together—tenaciously, courageously, unwaveringly.

Justice without love becomes vengeance.

Love without justice becomes sentimentality.

But justice with love? That changes the world.

So let us not become like those who sow division. Let us be known by our love. Not a passive, permissive love—but a fierce, holy, truth-filled love that restores dignity, challenges evil, and sees the image of God in every human being.

Even the ones who don’t see it in us.

Even the ones we struggle to love.

Even when it’s hard.

Especially when it’s hard.

Because that’s when the light shines brightest.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:35

There is no shortage of noise in our world today—loud voices, sharp rhetoric, and endless opinions demanding our allegiance. But for those of us who follow Christ, there is a clear and timeless instruction from Jesus Himself: we are to be known by our love. Not by our arguments, our positions, or our affiliations—but by how we love.

Love is not passive agreement or blind tolerance. It is fierce in its protection of dignity. It is honest, humble, and sometimes costly. Love reflects the heart of Christ, who did not draw dividing lines between those worthy and unworthy of care, but moved toward the hurting, the marginalized, and the misrepresented. He didn’t posture for power; He knelt to wash feet.

So it is right—and wise—to pause and examine where we place our loyalty. If an individual, a church, a political figure, or an organization makes its name by spreading hate, fostering division, or belittling any image bearer of God, then we must ask: Is this the way of Jesus?

Scripture teaches that every person bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27). That alone demands respect. And yet, in the name of religion, people are often degraded rather than dignified. We are watching this unfold in real time across our culture—where fear is cloaked as faith, and cruelty masquerades as conviction.

But love cannot be divorced from truth. And the truth is, if our beliefs lead us to despise, dismiss, or dehumanize, we are no longer walking in the way of Christ.

It is not unfaithful to question. In fact, it may be the most faithful thing we can do.
To ask:
– Does this align with the character of Jesus?
– Would the fruit of this be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
– Or is it bearing fruit of pride, rage, fear, and contempt?

Love is how we will be recognized. It’s the evidence of Christ alive in us. So let us be people who love bravely. Who speak truthfully. Who do not flinch from accountability, nor shrink back from mercy.

And when we see hate disguised as holiness—may we be discerning enough to step back. May we have the courage to walk away. And may we never forget that our first and lasting call is not to a party or personality, but to a Person—Jesus Christ, whose love made the broken whole and called us all His own.

There’s a pattern that repeats itself across centuries and continents: when women are devalued, societies begin to crumble from within.

Scripture tells us plainly that both men and women are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Not just reflections of God’s creativity, but bearers of His likeness—equal in dignity, purpose, and worth. And yet, time and again, human systems warp that sacred truth. We forget. We ignore. We institutionalize inequality. And we all suffer for it.

When women are not seen as co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), when their voices are silenced, their gifts overlooked, and their safety dismissed, we create gaps in the fabric of our communities that cannot be mended by power or policy alone. The wounds go deeper. They ripple outward.

One tragic and often overlooked example is what happens in places where women are severely devalued—where their presence is hidden, their rights are stripped, and their humanity dismissed. In some areas of Afghanistan, for instance, young boys are subjected to horrific abuse under the practice of bacha bazi—a form of exploitation that flourishes in part because women are considered too “impure” or “less than” to form relational intimacy or partnership. Where women are dishonored, everyone becomes more vulnerable to harm, especially the smallest and most voiceless among us.

This isn’t just a cultural issue. It’s a theological one.

The way a society treats women reveals its view of God.

It tells us whether we believe that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). It shows whether our faith is performative or transformative. Whether we’re only interested in preserving power or actually pursuing the kingdom of God—which has always lifted the lowly, dignified the disregarded, and honored the overlooked.

So we must ask ourselves:

• Are we protecting women—not just from physical harm, but from erasure?
• Are we creating opportunities for women to lead, teach, speak, and serve?
• Are we making room for the voices and stories of women in our pulpits, boardrooms, and homes?
• Are we honoring their full humanity with the same vigor we use to defend doctrine?

Jesus did. Again and again, He broke social norms to elevate women—speaking with them publicly, healing them tenderly, receiving their ministry, defending their worth. He invited them into the story, not as side characters, but as central witnesses to resurrection, redemption, and the radical new kingdom He was ushering in.

If we want to measure the godliness of a nation, a church, or a home, let’s not just look at how much Scripture is quoted or how loud the worship music plays.

Let’s look at how women are treated.

Because the holiness of a people is most often revealed in how they care for those who are smaller, softer, or historically cast aside—not just women, but children, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, the marginalized.

May we be the kind of believers who don’t just nod along to justice and equality, but embody it. May we be bold enough to reflect the image of a Savior who chose the path of humility, lifted the ones the world dismissed, and called all of us—male and female—His own.