2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (ESV)
“[16] FROM NOW ON, therefore, “WE REGARD NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH”. Even though we once regarded CHRIST according to the flesh, WE REGARD HIM THUS NO LONGER. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. [18] All this is from GOD, WHO through CHRIST reconciled us to HIMSELF and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; [19] that is, in CHRIST GOD was reconciling the world to HIMSELF, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Years ago I acquired a personalized license plate that says BIG RAY. Being 6’6” tall doesn’t require any announcements to the world that you are taller than most, but everyone has always called me BIG RAY! Of course, being larger in the waistline accentuates the moniker, but nonetheless proclaiming my size was never something that was demanded.
The Apostle Paul KNEW JESUS CHRIST. From Acts 9:5 Paul had KNOWN JESUS in a peculiar manner. JESUS called him out to “suffer for the sake of MY name” (Acts 9:16) and Paul couldn’t remove that from his memory! He also could not remove from his memory how JESUS had transformed his life. “FROM NOW ON, therefore” he was mandated to exhibit how his life was different after JESUS got ahold of him!
Paul KNEW that he was changed, so he understood that others were also radically changed. Paul states that “WE REGARD NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH” because JESUS makes us ALL a NEW CREATION, and is NOT “counting their trespasses against them”!
Since JESUS SEES a NEW CREATION, and JESUS lives inside of me, it behooves me to SEE that NEW CREATION as well. No longer do I prefer to be considered a large, caucasian, sometimes angry person, but a blood bought CHILD OF THE KING! Similarly, “WE REGARD NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH” should be my aim in life! JESUS paid a tremendous price to make me a NEW CREATION, and it is COMMANDED that “WE REGARD NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH”!!!
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