How Do We Regard People?
2 Corinthians 5:16a
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Paul (who wrote the verse above) didn’t regard people according to the flesh because Jesus didn’t regard people according to the flesh—and Paul was imitating Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1).
When Jesus encountered people, he didn’t regard them by their outward appearance—filthy, diseased, sinner, outcast, ignorant, belligerent—he regarded them as a soul in need of their Savior. Every action of Jesus we see throughout the Gospels is a testament to the way he regarded people.
He touched the diseased.
He ate dinner with the sinner.
He conversed with the outcast.
He spoke truth to the ignorant.
He delivered the belligerent.
All because he regarded people through spiritual eyes rather than through fleshly ones.
When we regard the people around us only according to the flesh, we miss out on the soul-stirring aspect of the life God created us to live.
But when we begin to regard people through the eyes of Christ, our whole world changes. We become aware of the mission field at our doorstep, and our world comes alive because we're living the way we were created to live!
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