Seeing The Whole Person

Seeing the Whole Person

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

We sat across from one another, coffee cups in hand. We’d had a misunderstanding and instead of avoiding one another or assuming what the other might be thinking, we decided to sit down face-to-face and talk it through. It felt awkward at first, but as the morning went on, my friend and I came to understand where we were each coming from. Forgiveness was given, allowances were made, and a bond was forged more strongly than it had been before.

It can be easy to make snap judgments about others or their intentions, especially when we are not with them in person. When we take the time to look someone in the eye and speak with them, we are seeing the whole person. We see their pain, their joy, their insecurities, their strengths, and their value—we see all of who they are—and it can often change the way we perceive them. We are more than the opinions we hold, and we can be friends with those who are very different from us when we see their humanity.

Jesus modeled this so well for us. In the story of the woman caught in adultery found in John 8, Jesus could not have been more different from the woman brought before him. The men who cast her before Jesus could never have anticipated his response. Instead of demonizing her based on one sinful act, he saw her for the whole person that she was and then told her accusers, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Although Jesus did not condone her behavior, he looked past it to her heart, offering compassion and freedom to live another way. I believe he challenges us to do the same. Can we see past behaviors to the hearts of those around us and offer friendship to someone who may really need it?

— Kendra

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Think of someone you’ve been judging lately. Ask God to help you see them as a whole person, and choose to extend friendship toward them instead.