SHARING OUR PASSION FOR PEOPLE (2)

There are but two things that made Jesus leave heaven, come to walk in this life, suffer, and die—he had a passion for doing His Father’s will and a passion for people. Nothing caused the Father to send the Son except for his love for us.

II Corinthians 5:14-17 gives us a brand new view of people. It is revolutionary. It is God’s way of looking at people. At no time could people be in a position to view others in such a marvelous light if they could not catch God's perspective on the value of people.

This passage presents a brand new perspective on living—especially the value of life. Paradigm shift might best describe what we see here. By definition, a paradigm shift is a fundamental change in approach or assumption or acceptance by a majority of a changed belief, attitude, or way of doing things.

Because Christ died for us and was raised, things can never be the same again. Let’s go a bit further with this: because we are in Christ and share his life we can never see things (or people) from the same perspective we saw them before.

Let’s be realistic. Because Jesus died and was raised we can never see people the same way again. There should be a change to a new passion for the welfare of people.

Here’s the reality. Because of Jesus every person is a brand new possibility for Jesus. The good news of the Gospel is that every person you know can participate in the new birth. That’s good news (Rom. 1:16).

This is a very personal message. Let me ask you, have you caught that perspective of Jesus and people? Because we are in Chrsit, our view of people should be transformed and made new by our being in Christ.

Think about it: If we see people wrongly, there will be very little possibility of ever treating them in the right manner. If we really catch the passion of Christ, the real issue will be: how much is a person worth. How much am I worth? How should I treat others?