“You will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love.”
I’ve recently been seeing this quote all over social media, and I’ve been unable to ignore it, like a tiny light flickering in my peripheral vision. I’ve been chewing on it for a few weeks, and I’d like to add to it.
Since we are all made in the image of God, you will never look into the eyes of someone who bears no resemblance of God.
Queen Glennon Doyle, one of my favorite authors and people on this planet, said in her book Carry On, Warrior (which you need to read, like, NOW, if you haven’t yet):
“I am a child of God, and so is everyone else. We are all on the same side. And so in each new person, I see an invitation to know a new side of God. There are as many sides of him as there are people walking the earth. I think that’s why he keeps making people. He’s not done telling us about himself yet.”
I love this. LOVE IT. It’s so easy to feel like we have God figured out, like we know exactly who He is – every facet of him – but we don’t. And we never will, this side of heaven, just as we’ll never know every person walking the earth or who has walked the earth before us. We try to place Him in a nicely packaged box, one that comes with instructions and rules and a diagram of parts, because that is easier for our finite minds to handle. But that is ridiculous. God in His very nature is too enormous and too vast and too omni-everything for us to even begin to grasp. We can’t even scrape the surface of El Shaddai, God Almighty.
And the most incredible thing about the all-powerful, sovereign, Alpha/Omega Creator of the universe? He wants us to know him. He wants our tiny, incompetent brains to know him as intimately as possible. And He shows us who He is through all of creation, yes, but most of all through us – through humanity. We are His image-bearers.
One of the things I love about the Enneagram is how it relates the different types to different characteristics of God. In Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile’s book, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self Discovery, Cron writes:
“Every number on the Enneagram teaches us something about the nature and character of the God who made us. Inside each number is a hidden gift that reveals something about God’s heart. So when you are tempted to prosecute yourself for the flaws in your own character, remember that each type is at its core a signpost pointing us to travel toward and embrace an aspect of God’s character that we need.
Ones show us God’s perfection and his desire to restore the world to its original goodness, while Twos witness to God’s unstoppable, selfless giving. Threes remind us about God’s glory, and Fours about the creativity and pathos of God. Fives show God’s omniscience, Sixes God’s steadfast love and loyalty, and Sevens God’s childlike joy and delight in creation. Eights mirror God’s power and intensity, while Nines reflect God’s love of peace and desire for union with his children.”
Of course, God has more than 9 faces, but I love and can definitely subscribe to the idea that we all bear the fingerprints of our Creator. He is consistently pursuing us. He wants us to know everything about Him. And isn’t it just like God to make knowing and loving others one of the main ways to know and love Him? If you want to encounter God, encounter His children.
Look for God in every race, every culture, every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Because if we only look for God in the tiny circle of people who are just like us, we are only seeing a minuscule fraction of His nature. He wants us to know more of Him.
