Spiritual Insight: We are Imago Dei

Dear God of Love and Justice,

The Hebrew words Imago Dei — "the image of God" — are not a theological abstraction. They are the most radical claim ever made about a human being. When You spoke those words over dust and breath in Genesis, You were declaring that the single mother working the night shift at the gas station on Route 9 carries Your likeness. That the refugee family sleeping on a gymnasium floor in a church basement reflects Your glory. That the man everyone avoids at the soup kitchen — the one who talks too loud and smells of cigarette smoke — is a walking, breathing icon of the Almighty.

Deuteronomy 10:19 does not whisper; it commands: "Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." You did not say "tolerate" the stranger. You did not say "pity" them. You said love — the same word You use for how You feel about Your own people.

Father, forgive us for the times we have looked past Your image in someone because their accent was unfamiliar, their clothes were worn, or their story made us uncomfortable. Open our eyes the way You opened Hagar's eyes to the well in the desert — so that we might see what was always there.