From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew christ from a human point of view, we kno him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
--2 Corinthians 5:16-17
A recent article on the internet listed the top ten states for road rage. Most of them had large population centers. Implicit in the article was a curiosity as to why otherwise civil and reasonable human beings could become so nasty to their fellow mortals while behind the wheel of a car. There was a list of specific behaviors among motorists that either caused or were the result of road rage.
Road rage would surely qualify as an example of what the Apostle Paul called a human point of view. It might be a more emphatic point of view, but it's a point of view nonetheless. Interestingly, Paul claims to regard no one from a human point of view. Would that work when you're stuck in traffic or faced with a motorist that demonstrates that he/she knows nothing about who has the right of way? When traffic -- or life, for that matter -- is running smoothly, it's easier to see another human being as one for whom Christ died and rose. But when things get rough, we do tend to revert back to those human points of view.
But human points of view (including road rage) do not trump the new creation. It is not road rage that carries the day -- or any other all-too-human point of view. The main thing is that we are part of the new creation. The Holy Spirit helps us in getting the hang of that. And thus, we find ourselves fretting less and less about those people -- even motorists! -- who get our dander up. Instead, we begin to see each single human being as one for whom Christ loved all the way to a cross and empty tomb. This may not eliminate road rage or even curb it, but I dare say that it's a start!
PD
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