How do you view other people?

‘So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.’ (2 Corinthians 5:16 NIV)

Do you view people in the way God views them?

I have to admit that I often place labels upon people both good and bad. Some are Christians, whilst others are drug addicts or terrorists. Some are nurses or teachers, others politicians, or even worse, bankers.

When Jacob looked at Joseph he saw his favourite son. Joseph’s brothers saw an idle dreamer. The Midianite merchants saw a slave. Potiphar saw a trusted servant. Potiphar’s wife saw a potential lover. The prison guards saw a prisoner. But when God looked at Joseph he saw a Prime Minister of Egypt in waiting.

This tells me a couple of things.

First, I shouldn’t get discouraged by what people see in me; rather I should be encouraged by what God sees in me. Others will identify my weaknesses, shortcomings, foibles and idiosyncrasies all too easily; but God sees me as his child whom he loves and wants an eternal loving relationship with me.

Additionally, this shows me that I should never view any person from a worldly point of view, since God loves them too, and has the same desire towards them.

It’s easy to look down on people because of their current circumstances, but that disruptive child at school might be a surgeon in waiting who will operate on you in the future. That woman going to a food bank or a soup kitchen might be a Prime Minister in waiting. That drug addict shooting up on the street corner might be a future Christian leader in waiting.

Impossible?

Think of David, a simple shepherd boy, but was a king in waiting. Or Esther, an orphan, yet was a queen in waiting.

It’s not how the world sees that matters, but how God sees, and he doesn’t seem to care about the physical things we find so important.

He doesn’t care about age; that’s why he blessed Abraham and Jeremiah.
He doesn’t care about experience; that’s why he chose David.
He doesn’t care about gender; that’s why he positioned Esther.
He doesn’t care about your past; that’s why he called Paul.
He doesn’t care about your physical appearance; that’s why he chose Zacchaeus.
He doesn’t care about how good a speaker you are; that’s why he chose Moses.
He doesn’t care about your mental condition or your past morals; that’s why he chose Mary Magdalene.

God has never seen a person that he doesn’t love, has never seen a person he will not forgive, has never seen a person he will not help, and has never seen a person that he doesn’t want an eternal loving relationship with.

Now that changes my view, not only of me, but of everyone else.

Have a good week seeing as God sees.

Pastor Barry