Over the past couple of weeks, I have had conversations with dear loved ones about loving and seeing people from a holistic point of view. One of my friends asked me, “What do you mean by seeing people holistically?” In a simplistic explanation, for me, seeing people holistically means seeing them beyond their noticeable sin, and instead seeing their soul, trauma, heartache, heartbreak, pain, shame, grief, embarrassment, facades, masks, and the deep, dark secrets that they dare not share. People are more than the sins they practice; they are products of the sins that have happened to them.

Wow, that’s a lot. Let me explain.

Sometimes it is easy to see people’s sins, but we do not take into account the sins that have happened to them. The abuse, the trauma, the medical report, the diagnosis, the divorce, the adultery, the greed, the offense, the deceit, the pain, the wrongdoing, the exploitation, the unprotection, the…

Instead, we just see the results of these things and never take into consideration what leads to their sinful, hurtful, and painful behavior. We look at the effects without considering the cause.

This is not to say that we do not rebuke or convict sinful ways or activities. This is also not to say that we do not hold people accountable for their actions. Jesus exemplifies how we should lovingly rebuke and challenge each other, while at the same time seeing beyond each other’s sin (read the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to see what I am talking about).

In this short post, I want to challenge all of us to see people holistically.

So, be graceful.

Be patient.

Be loving.

Be kind.

And allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to see people beyond their sin because they are more.

So much more that they are worth dying for (1 Tim. 1:15).