Flashpoints seem to surface almost daily in our culture. Recently, the president of the United States shared a meme that many found demeaning and refused to retract it. Survivors connected to a high-profile sexual abuse case expressed renewed anguish after investigative files were released containing identifying information. Reports continue to raise concerns about how some children have been treated in the complexities of immigration enforcement. Tensions feel high across the country. And too often, people in positions of power—both in government and within the Church—use words or wield authority in ways that wound rather than protect.
As a Christian, I find the weight of it all overwhelming. The words, the attitudes, the patterns of harm all grieve me. It can feel impossible to stem the tide, to shift the trajectory, to stop the damage. I know I am not alone in feeling this way.
So what do we do? We cannot die on every hill, but there are some hills upon which we must take our stand.
So where do we begin? We begin where we must always start: by going back to God’s Word, finding out what matters to Him, then echoing His priorities into the world around us.
“For God so loved the world…”
We as Christ followers serve a God who loves this world full of people. He loves all races, all colors. He loves people from this geographical location and that ethnicity. He loves people from this and that political party, too.
He loves US all.
The God of the Bible does not see talking points but treasures people. He does not love from a distance or by category. He sees each and every one. He enters the suffering. He sends His Son.
When Christians lose this vision, when we excuse or imitate demeaning language, when we lessen our love because of earthly loyalty, when we prioritize a party over people, we do not merely lose credibility. We lose the heart of God.
This matters, because our words reveal more than our opinions. As Christ followers, our words reveal our witness.
God’s Love Has Always Been Both Personal and Global
When the Bible says, “For God so loved the world…” our witness as Christians should be more than hold up a John 3:16 sign at a football game. We must pay attention, because that word world matters. Not one nation. Not one race. Not one political category. Not one people group. The world.
Scripture does not present a God who loves humanity in print while lessening human beings in practice. He loves people. Real people, with names, faces, stories, dignity, and worth. He loves us because He created each of us in His own image and wants a real relationship with every single one of us.
The Bible is unambiguous about the wideness of God’s mercy: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 NIV).
This has always been God’s heart. When God called Abraham, His covenant with him was never meant to be about just one people group. God’s blessing was designed to flow through one people group into the nations. We see this all over Genesis, starting with His first promise to Abraham, in which He said, in part: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).
Turns out, the New Testament doesn’t cancel or revise that promise; it fulfills it. In Christ, God is not forming fences; He is forming people.
What Changes When We Come to Christ
Here’s the thing: if God does not dehumanize people, we must not in any way, shape or form do that, either. Coming to Christ does not erase our stories or backgrounds, but it does reshape our identity.
Colossians 3:10 tells us: “Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Look at what Scripture says next: “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11).
This unifies Christians with one utmost, highest priority: Christ.
The Scripture does not stop there, though. God tells His people what this new Christ life should look like: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12).
If we belong to Jesus, we are not to be first identified by who we oppose, how loud we scream, how fiercely we defend our cause, or how boldly we draw lines, but by how we seek, speak, and see other people in Jesus’ Name.
Law, Order, and the Line God Never Crosses
Now, please don’t read into this what I’m not writing. Yes, laws matter. Yes, governments are responsible to enforce those laws. Yes, authority is to protect citizens and pursue the common good. Yes, God holds rulers accountable. Yes, human migration has marked history since shortly after the Flood. Scripture does not deny these complexities but, in fact, speaks to each one.
Still, in the midst of this, the greatest law is to love God and love others.
History shows us over and over what happens when people are reduced to inhuman categories instead of recognized as image-bearers. Communist death camps did not begin with mass extermination; they began with dehumanization. The Nazis labeled, sorted, and extinguished lives deemed expendable.
When a person is no longer seen as someone, it becomes easier to treat them as something, to mock, to ridicule, to discard.
That is a line God never crosses.
A Necessary Clarification
Now, some may object that Scripture itself contains moments of judgment, language, or discipline where it may seem that God “dehumanizes” people Himself. The truth is that, in the Bible and in this world, God judges people as people, people who are morally responsible image-bearers. He always seeks and speaks, reaching out to humanity, extending invitation and relationship, salvation and redemption. His eye was on Rahab, on Ruth, on the Samaritan woman. He sees each of us, including those disrespected, discarded or disregarded by society.
Dehumanization strips dignity, erases moral agency, and treats human life as disposable, expendable objects or faceless categories. God does the opposite: He names sin plainly, gives warnings, allows consequences, and holds individuals and nations accountable, all while preserving their humanity and worth which is based not on their skin color, gender or ethnicity but their Imago Dei.
Scripture tells us, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
Not everyone chooses this, of course. Yet, God still invites, loves, and extends mercy.
Our Own Accountability
And so then, “For God so loved the world…” Since the beginning of time, His heart has been FOR us. Not like a heavenly cheerleader with pom poms in the clouds, but like a Shepherd who goes looking for the one. Extending love and mercy to everyone who will call on His name.
You may say, I would never do that. That’s what I say, too.
But here’s what I know is true. If we as Christians cast our vote or side with a person or entity that demeans, speaks derogatory remarks or dehumanizes any people group, then we better be explaining to the next generation where we draw the lines and why.
To be clear, no one human being or group (including us!) is ever going to get everything right. We better be certain we’re as willing to talk about where they get it wrong as we are to talk about where we think they’re right. Our kids are watching us, listening to us and learning from us! What we say and don’t say matters.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, our allegiance to the Prince of Peace must be more than our allegiance to a political party.
A Call to Christ-like Witness
God does not dehumanize people, and we must not either. As Christ-followers, we are called to Meet with God and Make Him Known. And when our witness for Christ is indirectly reshaped by someone in authority – whether through mockery, dismissal, or silence – we must not remain silent. Why? The next generation is watching what we excuse and what we confront.
The call of Scripture is not to win at all costs, but to reflect Christ at all times. He never stripped dignity to make a point, and neither should we. That means guarding our hearts and tempering our tongues so that our words and actions bear the mark of Christ, not the spirit of the age. This means living with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
No, God does not dehumanize people. He never has and never will. May we His people remember that, especially when the world forgets.
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