The Christian life comes with a lot of change; people change from lost to found, from dead to alive, from choosing their sin to choosing their Savior. In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul points out another change that comes with this new life: we stop evaluating others from a human point of view.

“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 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 5:15-17)

In verse 15, Paul explains that Jesus died for everyone and when we receive His new life we are changed, we live for Christ and not ourselves. Verse 16 begins with the conjunction “so” and if you remember back to your School House Rock days, a conjunction joins words or sentences. The conjunction “so” means “for this reason, therefore, or with the aim that.” So, since Jesus died for everyone and this new life in Christ is lived for Him and not ourselves, we stop evaluating others from a human point of view. Not just those who have been saved, but those who are still slaves to their sin. We don’t need to evaluate anyone from a human point of view, but from a heavenly one, seeing them as God sees them.

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)

“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the Lord. Instead, ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.’ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

“Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13)

“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:44)

“Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

When Jesus saw the crowd, He saw sheep without a shepherd. He didn’t see enemies or a burden or a crowd of stress-makers. He had compassion on them because Jesus evaluated them from a Heavenly point of view. One of the best examples of Jesus seeing people from a heavenly point of view is in the account of the woman caught in adultery. While Jesus was teaching, a group of religious leaders and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They had evaluated her from a human point of view and had decided that she should be stoned for her sin, but before carrying out this condemnation, they decided to ask Jesus His opinion on what they should do.

“They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, ‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’
’No, Lord,’ she said.
And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more.’” (John 8:6-11)

Jesus did not evaluate her from a human point of view. He did not see her as someone who needed to be stoned for her sins, but someone who needed to be saved from them. Jesus evaluated her as He did everyone: from a heavenly point of view. Once we have accepted Christ and committed our lives to following Him, this is our charge as well: to no longer evaluate people from a human point of view. Our citizenship is in Heaven and we are foreigners in this world, so we should evaluate people from a heavenly point of view. This will make it possible to love our enemies, to pay back evil with good, to make allowance for the faults of others, to forgive anyone who offends us, to leave revenge in the hands of our just God, and to let go of the old sins of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. With this new life in Christ and this heavenly perspective, stop evaluating people from a human point of view and see everyone as God sees them: His precious creation that He loves, and for whom He sent His Son to die, so that they may live!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed