A New Vision

A New Vision

Bible Challenge Blog for 7/17/2013                                      

One of the things I like most about reading the whole bible is encountering concepts I had never read before, concepts that intrigue and challenge me, like this passage from Paul:  :  ‘ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view “ (2 Corinthians 5: 16, NIV).  This idea absolutely astounds me!  It means that we need to see ourselves and others differently, as part of God’s kingdom on earth. 

The new vision (and indeed it is an entirely new vision, a profoundly new way of seeing ourselves and the other people in the world) is truly a game changer.  It elevates our goals, our way of seeing other people, our daily interactions, raising everything to a whole new level, from the ordinary to the celestial.  It means we are no longer citizens of the world, but citizens of heaven living out our time here on earth.   

But now comes the hard part: this isn’t just about us; it’s about everyone.  We need to regard them also as children of God—yes, that includes the everyone, even people we have been led to dislike or distrust.

When we begin to think about other people from a heavenly point of view, we begin to realize much we must be all alike to God.  Understanding how deeply God loves not only us but all the other people in the world as well-- in spite of all our flaws and failures—motivates us to do the same.  It is the Good Samaritan story all over again, only ratcheted up a notch, because this vision is not just about loving our neighbors but acknowledging that they too are God’s beloved, for God holds us all in his heart, regardless of how unworthy we are.  The strange thing, though, is that most of us manage to forget exactly who we are in God’s sight.  All too often we simply get caught up in our own needs and personal agendas, caught up in the struggles of our daily lives but fail to see ourselves and others as God’s  beloved.  We actually forget who we are!  Unbelievable, isn’t it, our ability to forget how deeply God loves us?  No wonder the psychologists’ waiting rooms are full. 

Clearly we need to change, even if changing won’t be easy.  We may want to start by dismantling our prejudices and preconceptions and begin to try harder to see others the way that God sees them.  Yet responding to this challenge helps us fulfill our destiny, of becoming the people that God intended us to be from the start.  Responding will change the world.  What would have happened, for example,  if George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin the way that God sees him, as one of the beloved? 

Judy Kuhns