Upheld in God’s good view

“That’s just typical.”

Sadly, this is what I first thought when someone I knew made a degrading remark about my physique to his friends. Even before this, I’d felt insecure around him, and my view of him was based on little more than stereotypes of masculinity.

This was years ago, but the experience recently came to thought after I read some research about the normalization of degrading content about women on social media. So much in the world depicts women as sexual objects; there’s a lot too that characterizes men in terms of sexuality.

Disturbed by this trend, I deeply prayed about what I’d read, and an idea clearly dawned on me: “What God holds up can’t be torn down.”

The Bible reveals that God, or divine Spirit, is always holding an uplifted, spiritual view of us all, which exposes carnal narratives as false narratives about who we truly are. Divine Spirit faithfully witnesses or testifies to the truth of our nature as God’s spiritual offspring. The Apostle Paul celebrated this when he wrote, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

And this is exactly what Jesus’ life revealed. More than anyone ever, Jesus embodied Christ, the true idea of God. Through his life and prolific healing ministry, Jesus proved that what frees us from a false, sensual perception of ourselves and others is knowing that our very substance and identity are entirely sourced in God – “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

And when Jesus gave the loving instruction that adultery includes even looking at a woman lustfully (see Matthew 5:28), he certainly conveyed that it’s right to hold a respectful view of women. But this can also be understood more broadly, as a call to forsake a limited, physical concept of woman and man, and to instead value the real, spiritual substance of everyone’s God-given identity.

Thankfully, around the time my acquaintance made that thoughtless remark, I’d begun to read the book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. It’s a book that explains how to consistently experience what the Bible reveals of God’s good nature, which heals and transforms. The more I read, the more it opened up my understanding of God and what it means that each of us is God’s child, created spiritually in the divine likeness.

Here’s a passage from Science and Health that sheds a wonderful light on this: “Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God” (p. 516). It seems to me that this isn’t talking about physical gender, but rather is pointing to the completeness and harmony of God’s fathering and mothering nature, which is expressed in all of us through glorious spiritual qualities – such as gentleness and nurturing love, as well as strength and protection.

It was so freeing to realize that real manhood and womanhood are defined not by the world’s limited notions, but by God’s virtuous and noble nature, which animates the spiritual substance of our true being.

A few months after the incident, I crossed paths with that individual again. I found that unlike in previous interactions, I didn’t feel insecure at all. Instead I felt the dominion of knowing we were both upheld in God’s good view of us. From then on, our interactions were characterized by a mutual respect for one another, and I felt a sincere character shift in relation to the lens through which he saw me.

Though it’s a modest experience, I’m so grateful for the promise it holds for larger societal transformation and healing. What’s said or done in the world couldn’t ever undo the view that God holds of us. It is God who knows and communicates all that’s true about what we are. So it’s inherently natural for us to have a respectful and loving view of each other as sons and daughters of God.

As we think, speak, and live from a Christly standpoint, this genuinely supports humanity’s growth and progress.