In Christ I'm a New Creation!

“We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in that way.  Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person.  The past is forgotten, and everything is new.  God has done it all!  He sent Christ to make peace between Himself and us, and He has given us the work of making peace between Himself and others” (2 Corinthians 5:16-18).

Why is it that we do that?  We take a look at someone and can already determine where their heart is.  This is so common amongst our society that it’s not even funny.  We know God tells us not to judge people, yet we do it anyway.  Why is that?  It’s like we have something planted inside of us that has grown into our minds and souls.  We judge a person by clothing, hair, style, music, friends, and choices they have made in their life.  Why do we do that?  What does to judge mean exactly?  To judge means “to form an opinion or conclusion about.”  We just see someone and we already have an opinion about them.  I don’t know what makes us feel as though our opinion matters to anyone, but we share it, don’t we?  “Wow, what is that girl wearing?”  “Oh, she has a kid and she’s not married.  She must have made some bad decisions.”  “That guy is covered in tattoos; he must be a bad guy.”  Now, I know those are a little old school and we probably heard our parents and pastors telling us not to make these same judgments growing up.  But, the point I think God is trying to make here and all throughout scripture is, even though we don’t say them out loud, we still think them.  That is enough to be called a judgment. So, now that I have discovered that I am completely, 100% guilty of judging people, what can I do to change?  Well I’ll tell you what, any time you start to form an opinion of someone in your mind, think about Christ and what He died for.  He died for those of us who are lost, those of us who have messed up, those of us who don’t have it all under control, those of us who need help.  We need to remember that “anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person.  The past is forgotten, and everything is new.  God has done it all!”  What?!  You mean that every sin that has been committed was placed on Jesus’ hands?    So, instead of making judgments about what we see with our eyes, remember that every sin was placed on Jesus making us righteous with God.  “Christ never sinned!  But God treated Him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God” (5:21).  Wow!  I don’t know about you but if someone is considered righteous in God’s eyes, then who are we to make a judgment call about someone else?  God judges all of us by what we have judged others by.

“Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat” (2 Corinthians 5:14 MSG).