To have reverence is to have or treat with deep respect or regard. Obviously, we have reverence towards God, because He is worthy of all our love. However, we often forget that as humans we are made in the “image and likeness” of God, giving us a dignity above the rest of Creation. For this reason, we should have and show reverence for others.
Every human life is sacred, valuable, holy, because every human life is an image of God. We are living, walking, breathing, sacraments. We are reflections of the face of God in the world—whether we like each other or not, whether we get along or not.
When they asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment, He responded:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
~ Matthew 22:37-40
In these two lines He sums up the Christian life. God comes first, others come second, and you come last. This is THE Christian prioritization of life. If you get this wrong, you get Christianity wrong. If you have these out of order, your life will be out of order. It’s interesting to note how simple this is, yet most of us struggle with it every day.
So this is our challenge today and every day: to put God first in our lives, to center our lives around God, and in doing so we also must show reverence to all people, even those who hate us, think differently, live differently, or worship differently than us. It doesn’t matter what you think of them. Jesus made that clear every time they would judge Him for hanging out with the other crowd.
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
~ Matthew 25:40
You don’t have to like them, but you do have to love them. Ask God to open your eyes so that you may see people as He sees them. Remember that He loved each of them into existence, just as He did you. God loves them and so should you.