This is a great test of your spiritual maturity—better than asking how much of the Bible you know, how often you go to church, or whether you serve, tithe, or pray.

Life is all about love and relationships. So if you want to gauge your spiritual maturity, think about how you see other people.

Let me ask you some pointed questions.

How does God see your spouse? Valuable. Acceptable. Lovable. Forgivable. Is that the way you see your spouse?

How about the stranger at the grocery store? The person who cut you off in traffic? The beggar on the street? What do you see when you look at other people? Do you see them as irritations or burdens?

What about the people you work with? Do you see them as enemies? Competition? Or do you see them the way God sees them?

All people matter to God. It doesn’t matter who they are, what they’ve done, or even what they believe. Christ died for them. Jesus loves them. God has a plan for every person, and he wants them to have a relationship with him.

The Bible says in Mark 6:34, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (NIV).

That’s the way Jesus sees people. And that’s the way you can grow to see people too. You can learn to have compassion for your own family as well as for your neighbors, your community, your country, and the rest of the world.

Let your spiritual vision get stronger as you learn to see people the way Jesus does.