Whose Image Are You Created In?

  I was carrying on a conversation with a few guys I work with and somehow we got on the subject of human trafficking.  I was surprised that they didn't know that human trafficking was a multi million dollar business and it does not only happen in third world countries.  It happens in North America, and we window dress it as prostitution and pornography.  There are several reasons why people are sold or forced into trafficking.  It could be any number of reasons why people are sold into trafficking.  It could be for money, criminal, prostitution, and it is done through coercion, the abuse of power, abduction or any other reason.  There are several very stagering facts about trafficking that grabbed my attention.
 
      27 million yes million men, woman and children are sold into domestic servanthood, hard labor    
        and prostitution
      Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar a year business.
      Up to 80% of people trafficked are woman and up to 50% of that number are children

    There are many organizations that are out to combat human trafficking.  Two of those groups are World Hope International (worldhope.org) and The Orange Movement.  The Orange Movement is a campus movement on Oklahoma Wesleyan University (okwu.edu).  As much of a problem as human trafficking is and it does deserve our attention to stop, prevent and help people recover from the horrors they have experienced through human trafficking, I think there is something else that also deserves our attention.  It is how we treat other people and often how we degrade people with our words, thoughts, actions and attitudes.
   
  How often do we bring people down with a joke or sarcastic comment and these are the people that we like.  At my church we have a group of men that meet on Saturday mornings for breakfast and encouragement.  As we are making breakfast, we are often busting each others chops over different things.  Its all harmless and it is done in good fun.  I have often come away with the saying that why do I need enemies when I have friends like you all.  I think that when we are dealing with human trafficking, both with the victims and the perpetrators, and our daily relationships is that we are all created in the image of God and we our God's children no matter how dumb we may act sometimes.  Here are some ideas that could be applied to how we treat others

   The first idea of how we can uphold the image of God is through our speech.  The big idea with this is that we should labeling gossip as prayer request.  I know there can be a fine line between gossip and sharing useful information that needs to be shared.  Gossip tends to bring one person down and build someone else up.  It often makes us look better when we are praying for that person and it is letting the whole world know that we are praying for them.  Here are two basic ideas to help combat gossip.  The first one is, does everyone need to know.  The second idea is that do I have permission to share this information with the world.  Not everything needs to be a status update on Facebook.  If we filter information through these two basic principles, gossip should dwindle fast.  We should think of everything that pure, holy, and uplifting and share those things.  If we were more concerned with building each other up instead of bring down, our attitude might change

  The second idea of how we can uphold the image of God is our attitude/actions towards others.  I know my attitude towards people that rub me the wrong way tends to go south when I am around them and I tend to get snarky.  Our attitudes often comes out in our body language and how we communicate with them.  Instead of making the rude comments that we think they deserve, try seeing things from their perspective.  Its also a chance for us to check our attitudes and assumptions.  Ask and allow God to change those attitudes in us that need to be changed.  Often when we encounter people who rub us the wrong way is a signal that we have uncheck attitudes and assumptions that need to be changed.

  The third idea of how we can uphold the image of God in us and others is through loving and praying for them.  Its not the prayer for God to smite them where they stand, but it is a prayer for God to be present in their lives in a big and powerful way.  Even if this means blessing their socks off.  It is easy to pray for friends and family, but when we talk about enemies, it is much easier to bring them down than to build them up through prayer and loving them with Gods love.  God calls us to not only pray for the people we like but for the ones we don't like also.  Maybe when we show God's grace to others, we are being responsible with the gifts and grace we have been given.  We have been given so much by God's grace we are called to share it with everyone we come in contact with because they are our neighbor. 

  The fourth idea of how we can uphold the image of God is realize that we were created in the image of God.  We often are our harshest critic and we know where we fail and fail hard.  It is inviting God to come into our lives and change us from the inside out.  The only way this happens is if we give Him the keys to the whole house and not just certain rooms.  The more that God puts back together His image in us, the easier it will be for us to see others in His image. When we see ourselves and others in our image, we tend to either be condescending bringing each other and ourselves down, or we tend to put ourselves and others on pedestals that we don't belong on.  When we or others fall from grace it isn't nice.  To quote an old hymn of the church, "my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness."  When we start building our hope on this, how we see ourselves and others will radically change for the better