08/26/2026
Behind every headline, every heated argument, every social media rant, there’s a person. A person with a story. A person shaped by experiences, wounds, hopes, and fears that we may never fully understand.
It’s easy to stand at a distance and make snap judgments. To label, dismiss, or reduce someone to the worst thing they’ve ever said or done. But Jesus never called us to take the easy path. He calls us to love, really love. The kind of love that leans in rather than pulls away. The kind of love that listens instead of assuming. The kind of love that sees a person before an opinion.
To be clear, love doesn’t mean agreement. It doesn’t mean passivity. It doesn’t mean pretending differences don’t exist. But it does mean choosing to see the humanity in the person across from us. It does mean remembering that every person we struggle with is someone made in the image of God, someone Jesus died for, someone worthy of dignity and grace.
When we keep our distance, it’s easy to caricature others, to see them only as their worst take, their loudest opinion, their most frustrating trait. But up close we see complexity. We see struggle and pain and longing and nuance that social media and soundbites will never capture.
Jesus touched the l***r and ate with tax collectors. He defended the woman caught in sin. He washed the feet of His betrayer. Again and again, He refused to let cultural, political, or religious divisions stop Him from loving real, messy, complicated people.
And if we claim to follow Him, we’re called to do the same.
So the next time we feel the impulse to write someone off, what if we paused? What if we prayed? What if we asked a question instead of assuming we already have all the answers?
Because behind most people we don’t like is a story we don’t know.
�Behind every opinion we oppose is a person God loves.
And if Jesus drew near to love them, maybe we should, too.
~Ian Simkins
