Some people have a certain hurdle to overcome which fascinates me; they are unable to recognize faces. I can’t imagine what that is like. It is such a basic function of our social interactions that most of us probably take it for granted. They rely on voices, hairstyles, posture and other traits to identify the people they interact with.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.
Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:14-20

Something essential about being a Christian is shedding that instinct to judge people by fleshly standards. We are obligated to cut off that part of our social skills; something that would be useful from a worldly perspective is no longer useful to the Spiritual person. When we assess someone, we no longer pass judgement but now we see them as Jesus does, someone He wants to save. We appeal to those around us based on their Spiritual needs, no longer picking and choosing the “worthy” based on the flesh.

Can we as Christians become willingly blinded to the things we used to consider essential to others identities? Equally important, can we judge our own selves by Spiritual standards? If we ever hope to close the gap between us and our neighbors, we must.

Ethan Kirl

Originally Published April 5, 2021