Notice the Response

To understand how God views mankind, sometimes we need to look no further than the Gospel recordings of Jesus' earthly ministry. Our Savior encountered people of all walks of life and in all types of spiritual need. By noticing his response to various situations we gain valuable insight into how God views human interaction.

To an inquisitive and possibly teachable Pharisee who asked him what was the greatest commandment, he replied in a way that pointed out how much his group had missed the mark: "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). To those who wanted to stone an adulteress, he said the one who was sinless could go first (John 8:7); a reminder that we in our sinful state aren't fit to pass judgment on others. Jesus later extended mercy to the same woman and commanded her to stop repeating her sin (v.9-11) which reminds us that forgiveness is ours when we repent but repentance also requires change on our part.

Jesus reacted with anger when the money-changers did business in the temple (Matthew 21:12-13) instead of revering it as a place of worship. He rebuked his disciples when they tried to keep children away (Matthew 19:13-15) which shows us that he is pleased when we seek him with the wonder of a child. When his followers were focused on personal greatness, he reminded them that the least would be first (Matthew 20:26-28) and humility was more important than pride of achievement.

Our Savior saved his harshest rebukes for the Pharisees; who abused their religious authority (Matthew 23:16-29) by focusing on legalistic traditions that actually hindered spiritual growth and revealed their blindness to who God really is. He forgave his friend Peter, who just three days earlier had denied him (John 21:15-23) which shows us the value of restored relationships. He showed patience with Thomas who had doubts (John 20:25-29) to remind us the importance of faith in things unseen.

There are many others, but you get the idea. Often the key to understanding the ways of God and seeing things the way he does is as simple as noticing the response of Christ.