The High Five Choir is not your typical choir. Teens with developmental disabilities such as Autism, Down syndrome and Noonan syndrome have banded together and perform with a group of disability-free classmates. They don’t always sing in tune or move together in perfect unison. But the High Five Choir is so inspiring that they receive standing ovations during every performance.

Why does this unique choir bring the house down at the conclusion of each concert? It probably stems from something director Susan Vaughan points out about the choir’s purpose: “The bigger picture is for young people to go out in this world and to see people for who they are from the inside, regardless of the packaging we’re given on the outside.”

It can be so easy for us to focus on externals and overlook the true inner value of a person fashioned in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But when we don’t—in those High Five Choir moments when we look past a person’s disability, race, hair color, height and weight—truly seeing his or her soul, something godly clicks in our own soul. In those instances we’re not bound by our prejudices, stereotypes or self-centered tendencies. Instead we’re free to value and love others as the people they are—human beings like us, with valid needs and desires.

Moments like these are what Jesus was getting at when He wisely broke down the Law of Moses into two basic commands: to love God with everything that is in us and to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).

Loving other people as we love ourselves means recognizing and appreciating that we live to serve and care for others as Jesus does—no matter what they look like.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: John 8:1-20