As we approach the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we start to realize that adopting the mindset of “More Jesus, Less Me” has greater significance than simply deciding what we do on a Sunday morning. Becoming more like Jesus leads us to change the way we think about others and, more than that, how we live for others.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14-19, Paul writes: “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
The message that we have believed—that God sent his son Jesus so that we can have a relationship with God—is so important that it changes the way we view others. Before Christ, we thought of others as our enemies. Didn’t it show in how we treated others? Does it still show?
Paul says that we don’t think that way anymore. In fact, the change of mind that we experience in Christ compels us to look at others through Jesus’ eyes. At one time, the world was God’s enemies, but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we gained the opportunity to become God’s children, through Jesus’ act of reconciliation. As we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, let us allow God to change our minds so that we can help others to be reconciled to God through Jesus. Consider who you once viewed as an enemy and determine how you can share God’s message of forgiveness through Jesus and help them change their mind about God.