How I Treat Others is How I Treat Jesus
I tend to compartmentalize my interactions with people. But I shouldn't.
It’s easy to be nice to casual acquaintances. I see them often enough to care what they think of me, and sporadically enough to control what they see. So I act as superficially kind as possible.
But it’s also easy not to be nice to strangers or loved ones. I figure the strangers will never really know me anyway. I figure my loved ones know me well enough that my behavior doesn’t matter.
For I Was Hungry
But it does. In Matthew 25:42-45, we’re given this eye-opening story:
“For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” Then he will answer them, saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
The same goes for how we treat people in general. Our words toward strangers, casual friends and loved ones matter. Our actions toward others are as important as if they’re directed at Jesus himself, whether we like it or not. Because Jesus himself tells us that they are.
What matters is viewing all of those people as Jesus does, and realizing that how I’m treating them is how I’m treating him.
So when I’m getting all riled up at that Twitter person I don’t know, or I’m ready to scream at a family member because they’ve gotten on my nerves one too many times that day, or I’m being nice to an acquaintance just because I want them to think I’m nice, and not because I really care — I need to remember that it’s not only them I’m interacting with. It’s Jesus Christ himself.
Is that truly how I want to behave before my Lord and Savior? Not at all.
Changing the Way I See Interactions
This turns everything I think about interactions on its head. It’s not okay to be rude to strangers simply because they don’t know me. It’s not okay to mistreat my loved ones just because I take for granted the fact that they’ll stick around. And it’s not okay to be “kind” to casual acquaintances simply to make myself look good.
What matters is viewing all of those people as Jesus does, and realizing that how I’m treating them is how I’m treating him.
I hope he says I treated him well.
