John 13:34 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
When we’re looking at family members, friends, co-workers, or people on the street who aren’t Christians, whose eyes are we seeing them with? Are we seeing them through our own sinful eyes, or are we seeing them as God sees them? The Holy Spirit will immediately reveal the source of our focus. When we’re looking at people who aren’t saved, are we thinking or saying things that would be considered critical, judgmental, prideful, envious, or selfish? If so, the Holy Spirit should be trying to convict us of such sin. However, if we’re looking at these people with compassion and in need of a loving Savior, then we are looking at them with the eyes of the Father.
We as Christians need to remember that the only thing that separates us from non-believers in the eyes of God is the blood of Jesus that is given to us by His grace. In John 13:34, Jesus gives us a new commandment, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The Lord is not saying, “Love your Christian neighbor as yourself.” The Apostle John warns us of the consequences of disobedience to this new commandment in 1 John 1:6, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” Non-believers are just as entitled to displays of God’s love as believers are.
What about when we see fellow believers? If we look upon other Christians and think or say things that would be considered critical, judgmental, prideful, envious, or selfish, we are clearly out of focus in the eyes of the Father. There are two main sources of connection and commonality within the Body of Christ: 1) we are all covered by the blood of the Lamb; and, 2) we all [should] share in confession as sinners that are in need of Jesus. Every Christian’s righteousness, in the eyes of God, is only made by Jesus’ shed blood. Paul confirms this in Romans 3:21-24, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known… This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
If each Christian is covered by the same blood of Jesus, and it is that blood that covers our sin and brings us righteousness in the eyes of the Father, does it make sense for one Christian to look upon another with any sense of superiority or condemnation? Is the blood that covers one any better than the blood that covers another?
Finally, whose eyes do we see with when we look at ourselves? A pastor once said it perfectly, “If someone has truly looked at himself/herself as if he/she were being looked upon by the Father, there is no way that person could demonstrate any judgment, pride, or selfishness.” If we commit Ephesians 2:8-9 to memory, the chances are that our vision of others and our impression of ourselves will become more humble – more Christ-like: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.”