we must see differently…
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2Corinthians 5.16,17).
Following the close of a worship service, a college student raced up to me and said, “I want to become a Christian— can you tell me how?” After we finished praying, I was overtaken by the reality that this young man was created anew in my sight, and I couldn't see it. My eyes witnessed the birth of my children, but my vision could not penetrate into that realm where this dramatic birth was taking place. I remember hearing a man reflect upon his new birth, saying, “I’m in a new world— everything’s new: my eyes, my home, my wife, my job is new! It makes the Bible new and friends and all mankind and love and spiritual things and Sunday and the church and God Himself!”
Since Jesus makes us new creations, we need to relate to Christians as they are in Christ, not as they are in the world. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” Some can only see Jesus as He was in the world— a carpenter’s son, or itinerant preacher— but when we are a new creation, we see Him as the Son of God. When we look at other followers of Jesus Christ, we should see them first and foremost as our brothers and sisters in Christ. So often, we relate to people as they are in the world: she’s a professor, he’s a student, and so on. But it’s who they are in Christ that matters.
We also need to relate to non-Christians not simply as they are but as who they could be in Christ. Consider the apostles… Jesus picked the oddest bunch of disciples you could ever imagine! They may have been skilled fishermen, extortionate tax collectors, or passionate zealots. But no one would have seen them as heralds of God’s coming Kingdom or the foundational leaders of Christ’s Church. Let’s be honest. We’d have gone out and hand-picked some well-connected, vigorous, attractive, spiritually minded master communicators.
Nevertheless, Jesus perceived what this strange assortment of people could become in Him— and that’s how we need to see people. C. S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory) described it best when he observed:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long, we are, to some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities; it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked with a mere mortal… It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendors…”
“For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16.7)
We must see differently… Lord, give us eyes to see in others what you see…
