QT 5/26/2025 2 Cor 5:11–16, We don't see people as God sees people

2 Corinthians 5:11–16 (ESV) —

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

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.

 

NOTE: We all have a tendency to measure a person by external appearances, to include the car he drives, the house he lives in, the title he carries in his job, etc. We look at the clothes, the cleanliness, the mannerisms, and the speech. That can be a dangerous habit as it rank orders people that God created and that God loves.

 

I began my life as a farm boy, very shy, and an average student. There was nothing about me that suggested I had any future. I did not know what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school. I didn’t spend much time thinking about it. If a homeroom teacher had not forced a college entrance test (ACT) on me, my life might have gone a different route. My work experience included stuffing cucumbers into pickle jars, delivering newspapers, and cleaning out animal stalls. I didn't even have the money for the ACT, but I felt obligated because the teacher handed it to me anyway even after I said no. Fortunately, my Mom had the $15. Still, it was a worthless effort in my mind. No one in my family (that I was aware) had ever gone to college. My parents couldn't afford it. I was the oldest of seven and my Dad was an alcoholic. When the results came back, the counselors gathered us all together in a large room, but I hardly expected anything. The first thing a counselor said was, "the last reason you should not go to college is that you can't afford it -- there are lots of ways to fund college." I decided to take him at his word (50 years ago). I got a small loan and an even smaller grant. I worked every break I had. And after the first quarter, I was awarded an AF scholarship, and even better I learned about Jesus Christ and asked him to be my Savior. Later, in the Air Force, I was sent to graduate school for a MS in Operations Research. I commanded an Air Force squadron, then went to work for one of the most famous "think tanks" in the world, RAND Corp, and then finished my career at USAA, leading a team of data scientists building AI/ML tools for the Enterprise.

 

My external looks good, but it did not look so good when I started. And even more importantly, Jesus has changed my life completely. I am not the person I was, I am a new creation.

 

It is easy to dismiss people. We don't know their backstory. And we don't know what God can do in their lives if someone would but share the gospel message. There are a lot of potential new creations out there.

 

PONDER:

1. How do I evaluated people around me?
2. Do I see people as made in the image of God just as I am made in the image of God?

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the ride over the last 49 years since I graduated from High School. I had no idea what was in store, the joys, the suffering, the victories, and the defeats. While I would not choose all of it to do over, I am exceedingly grateful that you knew what was best and you have been orchestrating my life.