KNOWING NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH;
EVERYONE IN CHRIST BEING A NEW CREATION
We should be blind spiritually because we know no one according to the flesh; everyone who is in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:16-17). In the flesh everybody is nothing. In Christ we all are the new creation. Therefore, we should learn not to evaluate people. We should just learn to minister Christ to others. We minister Christ to someone to build up the new creation within him. Whether or not he will be promising, whether or not he will be good material for an elder or co-worker, we should leave to the Lord. We should not trust our evaluation of others. We should simply minister Christ to build them up.
In our contacting of people and in our evaluation of people, we have many "scars." We have many scars because we have done many things wrong in these two matters. If we had never done anything wrong in our contacting of people and in the evaluating of people, we would be very successful in the eldership. We have been greatly frustrated and reduced in our effectiveness in the eldership because our contact with people has not been that proper and our consideration of people has been wrong. Therefore, we have made mistakes, and we have scars. I hope that this fellowship will help us for the future.
(Elders' Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (3), Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
