Daniel 6: 16-17 NKJV
We've all ran across them, those people who have done their best to try our resolve and patience. Maybe it's a neighbor or a co worker, perhaps even a relative. Whoever it is, at times we may very well feel like poor Daniel as he was sealed into that lions den. What was Daniels offense? Well, he simply refused to pay homage to earthly idols, prefering instead to worship his living God. For this crime, the king was forced to place Daniel into the company of hungry lions. Now, I'm assuming that not very many people escaped from such a banishment. Daniel had become food for lions. So, how does Daniels situation compare to those which we often face? Well, nothing besides the fact that we may at times feel as if we are surrounded by a few hungry lions seeking our destruction. The only difference being our lions are usually other people we come into contact with. For whatever reason, these people seem like they will stop at nothing to cause us distress. So, what is our response to be when confronted by such challenging people and personalities? Well, as those who have accepted Christ Jesus, we do well to remember that we do not walk in these situations alone. By accepting Jesus, we have been assured that we walk through each and every day AS JESUS {Galations 2:20}. Knowing this, what situation is there that Christ Jesus cannot handle? Whatever it is we find ourselves facing, we are assured that we have an advocate who has been tempted as we are {Hebrews 4: 14-15}. Christ Jesus, the likeness of the living God, is able to walk us through anything.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5: 16-17 NKJV
Knowing that Christ Jesus gave Himself that we might reside with Him is definately a help for us in times of trouble, but there is something more we should realize when dealing with difficult people. Are these people who we are having difficulty with walking as we once did? Whoa! As in the pot calling the kettle black, all too often we regard those who we may be having difficulty with as simply unsaved, sinners or just bad people. But is this who they really are? A better way to put it might be, when we acted the same way that we now find others acting towards us, was this what defined us? What is it that seperates we who have known Christ Jesus from those who we now spar with? In my opinion, there is only one thing which seperates us from them, and that is one simple choice which is available to all. That choice, is Christ. To believe that just because one has not made that decision to accept Jesus that they are not created in Gods very image is in error. For scripture does not make that distinction. No, for we ALL were created in Gods image. We also know that Jesus did not come to condemn, but that ALL might be saved through Him {John 3: 16-17}. As christians, we do not hold a monopoly on who is and isn't saved, thank goodness. For what if our heavenly Father used that very same measure with which we judge others to in turn judge us? My friends, if this were the case, not too many of us would have a hope of salvation. So, how are we to regard those who we struggle with? I suggest what the apostle Paul himself claimed in 2 Corinthians, that we regard no one according to the flesh. Instead, I suggest that we regard all as what we are, children of God. I know, easier said than done huh? However, it may not seem all too difficult when we see others through the prism of Christ Jesus who is within us.
~Scott~
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