tHe MaN uPsTaiRS

There are few terms that I am annoyed by than this one. It literally is supposed to be a humorous name for God. The man upstairs.
I'll get past this minor annoyance to convey a more important part. I wrote a chapter in my upcoming book about a similar idea that the way we live directly affects our view of God. Sounds simple enough to understand but it seems difficult for us to separate when it's crunch time. 

I laugh when I hear the phrase because growing up between a rock and a hard place allowed me the unenviable opportunity to see how people treat one another. It is still prevalent right here in "hospitable" South Carolina. It is appalling and amazing how we fail in the area of human decency. We treat our fellow man like trash, like animals, or perhaps like nothing at all. So for me, the far out thinker that I can often be, I'm thinking if we see Jesus Christ as the "man upstairs", how does our treatment of him look in the face of all the social messiness around us?
Do you believe with all honesty that you treat your fellow man with the respect and honor they deserve?
If not, then how far of a stretch is it that perhaps "the man upstairs" feels that and is perhaps displeased with your treatment of your fellow human compatriots? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that perhaps that reminds him of the savage scourging of the cat o'nine tails on his back, or the crown of thorns viciously jammed into his skull, or the spikes hammered into his hands and feet?
Can it, at least, be a little bit possible that with every time we offend and brutalize our fellow man, we offend the "man" upstairs who didn't die for one (as sweet and wholesome as you might be) but He died for all.

We have a tendency in our humanness to view God as like us and of course, intentional or not, subject to our carnal whims. We can decide when He deserves praise, or when He needs to leap into action when we think it necessary to pray. We assume that He should answer every prayer and we determine how He feels about people that we don't particularly care for. We treat Him like ... well, a man!

Deities in times past have committed unconscionable acts and have, in effect, helped tarnish what the Creator looks like in our eyes. Before I leave those to their view of the "man that lives up the stairs", let me briefly share how differently I see Him.

1. God cannot lie. (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2)
2. God doesn't think the way we do and his intellect and understanding does not resemble ours in the slightest. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
3. God is upright and just in His decisions. He doesn't make mistakes. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
4. God is beyond our earthly efforts to figure Him out. (Romans 11:33)
5. God is not wishy washy and unstable. (James 1:17)
6. God is Holy and unlike any other. (I Samuel 2:2)