"When People Become Problems"
When was the last time someone cut you off in traffic? What did you call them in your mind?
I've taken a few weeks to think and pray about the subject of objectification—the dangerous habit of treating people as "somethings" instead of "somebodies." It's frighteningly easy to do. We strip away someone's humanity and reduce them to an obstacle, a tool, or a problem. And if we're honest, we all do it more than we'd like to admit.
Think about this moment:
A person cuts in front of us on the highway, or they're driving way too slow when we're running late. What happens in our minds? They become "an obnoxious driver" or "an obstruction"—until we pass them and realize we know them. Suddenly we duck and hide because they've become a person again.
I wouldn't be able to describe such an exact scenario if I didn't struggle with objectifying people myself. In the heat of the moment, it's easier to make someone a "something"—to de-humanize them when we're offended—than to overlook an offense and pursue peace. But habitual objectification will damage our ability to have deep, meaningful relationships. We need each other too much to let this pattern continue.
The Pharisee's Problem
Jesus addresses this very issue in Luke 18:9-14. Listen to how He describes it:
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: 'God I thank you that I'm not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector...' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his chest and saying, 'God have mercy on me, a sinner!' I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Pharisee doesn't realize it, but he is making everyone around him an object. In his obsession with his own righteousness, he's de-humanizing everyone else—labeling them by their sin instead of seeing them as sinners who desperately need grace, just like him.
He prays, "Thank you I am not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers."
But notice what he's really doing:
It's easier to label someone as "greedy" than to see them as a person seeking comfort in money because they don't know where else to turn.
It's easier to label someone as "unrighteous" than to recognize they have no motivation to live righteously because they haven't encountered God's love.
It's easier to label someone an "adulterer" than to see them as someone seeking belonging and intimacy in all the wrong places.
When we label people by their sin, we strip away their humanity. We reduce a complex, broken, beloved image-bearer of God to a single word, a single failure, a single offense against us.
Why We Objectify
Here's the uncomfortable truth: if we were to truly examine our hearts, I believe we would see that we are all objectifiers like the Pharisee.
Why do we do it? Because when we're feeling frustrated, insecure, or insufficient, it's tempting to cut someone else down in order to lift ourselves up. Objectification feels powerful in the moment. It protects our ego. It justifies our anger. But it's evil and offensive to God because we're turning someone He lovingly created in His image into a mere object—a problem to solve or an enemy to defeat.
Every person who exists, or has ever existed, is God's creation, made in His image and worthy of dignity.
How Do We Fight This?
So how do we, as Christ followers, fight this tendency in our lives? Here are four practices that can help us see people the way God sees them:
Seek Humility: Remind ourselves that the person who offended us is a child of God—a sinner in need of grace, not simply a sin to be condemned. They are fighting battles we know nothing about. Let's ask God to give us His heart for them.
Search Inside: Stop. Before we react, let's ask ourselves why we are offended. Is it possible we're projecting our own insecurity? Let's ask God to reveal any sin in our own hearts—pride, self-righteousness, unforgiveness—and repent of what He shows us.
Let Go of the Label: Release that person from our judgment in prayer. Pray for them by name if we know it. Ask God to bless them, heal them, and draw them closer to Himself. This is how we break the power of bitterness.
Repeat: This isn't a one-time fix. We'll need to practice these steps again and again as we grow in Christlikeness. Each time we choose humility over judgment, we're being transformed.
When we objectify each other, we damage the body of Christ. We need each other to bring the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. Therefore, we must learn to value and encourage one another—not as projects to fix or obstacles to overcome, but as beloved children of the same Father.
Lord, help us to remember: You don't create objects. You create people—precious, complex, broken, beautiful people. Help us to see them the way You do.
Amen.
© 2018 by Sharie King. All rights reserved.
