I am not there yet

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NLT)

If you have ever spoken at length with someone who is not sure if there is a God, much less that he desires a close, personal relationship with them, you know how hard it is to put into words a "point of view" on who or what we believe God to be in our own lives. We make lame attempts at describing who God is, but almost always gravitate back toward what he has done in our lives. This isn't by accident, because love is known more in actions than in words!  Have you ever stopped to think that you might just be describing others from the point of view known as their actions? It isn't that they are male or female, tall or short - physical attributes. It isn't that they have great intellect, or simple thought - intellectual attributes. It is more their sum total of "doing" that we see and make assumptions about that person based on the point of view of their actions.

The problem is that we really stop looking for Christ and see only the actions of another. When we begin to look for Christ in the actions, we might just see small hints as to the nature of his grace - including the "completeness" of that grace - for it covers even the imperfect actions of another! We would do well to do as the Apostle Paul states - stop comparing others from merely a human point of view. It is time for us to begin evaluating from a "divine point of view" - one that sees the potential in each created being! Christ becomes enough when we do just that!  Everything we need is in Christ - look for it even just a little bit in others and we might just be delighted to find it exists where we least thought it possible!

Look again at the passage - the new life in each of us is not complete - it has begun. In essence, Paul is reminding us that although the work of salvation (being made right with God the Father through the cross of Christ) is complete, the evidence of that work is not quite as apparent in all of our actions yet. We have some work to do - our actions follow, but there is a "learning curve" until they do! When we simply label someone as a Christian and expect they be perfect from the get-go it is unfair. None of us, and that means none of us, is without the need for correction. None of us is perfect. None of us has "arrived". None of us is without fault. That means that to look for even one iota of evidence of God's grace in the actions of others may be all we will see at first. Don't be discouraged when this is all that is evident for it is proof of a work occurring and that is what we all need to count on! Just sayin!