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Faith

Seeing people in a new light

People rarely change, and over the course of time we tend to form opinions about the character of people, based on their actions and the opinions of others. Some people get labelled as losers or whiners or needy people, and it is very difficult for them to break away from a reputation once it has become established. So Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians contains some radical advice in chapter 5:

“From now on we will stop evaluating others by the world’s standards. Even though we once knew Christ in a worldly way, we no longer know him that way. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Old things have passed away; they have become new. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave us the task of reconciliation. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not keeping a record of people’s sins, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation.”

Although someone we have known for a long time may look the same, and although it is impossible to wipe out history, when someone becomes a follower of Jesus Christians are called to look at him or her in a new light, evaluating him or her not by the world’s standards but as a new creation in Christ. No record is to be kept of people’s sins; instead, we have been entrusted with the message of reconciliation.