BECAUSE OF JESUS WE SEE PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY

Because we belong to Jesus, we can no long judge others independent of Jesus. We must see them through the eyes of Jesus. "No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards," says the apostle Paul. "Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so. Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come."

We cannot even look at ourselves in a detached way, as if we can judge ourselves to be good or bad independent of Jesus. Jesus says we only fool ourselves when we become certain of our own goodness. It's a devilish thinking that leads us to look down on everybody else.

Jesus' Objective---To teach us that seeing what God sees

in others is more important and helpful than judging

them according to appearance or performance.

(The above thoughts are from Jon Walker's excellent book, Costly Grace--A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship.)