學校的頂尖學生獲頒卓越學習獎時，台下響起了熱烈的掌聲。但頒獎典禮並未就此結束，接著表揚的不是那些表現最佳的學生，而是進步最多的學生。他們努力讓學業成績及格，不再搗亂，提高到校上課的出席率。這些學生的父母微笑著鼓掌，肯定了孩子們的進步，不再看他們過往的缺點，而是看到他們走在新的道路。

這令人振奮的一幕，讓我們窺見天父如何看待你我。祂不再看我們過去的種種，而是看我們現在因相信基督而成為祂的兒女。使徒約翰寫道：「凡接待祂的，就是信祂名的人，祂就賜他們權柄，作上帝的兒女。」（約翰福音1章12節）

上帝看待我們的眼光何等慈愛！因此保羅提醒新信徒，你們曾「死在過犯罪惡之中」（以弗所書2章1節）。但其實「我們原是[上帝]的工作，在基督耶穌裡造成的，為要叫我們行善，就是上帝所預備叫我們行的」（10節）。

彼得寫道：「你們是被揀選的族類，是有君尊的祭司，是聖潔的國度，是屬上帝的子民，要叫你們宣揚那召你們出黑暗、入奇妙光明者的美德」，現在你我就是「上帝的子民」（彼得前書2章9-10節）。在上帝眼中，你我過去的種種不能再轄制我們。讓我們以上帝的眼光看待自己，走上新的道路。

Applause rang out as a school’s top students received certificates of excellence for academic achievement. But the program wasn’t over. The next award celebrated students who weren’t the school’s “best,” but instead were most improved. They’d worked hard to raise a failing grade, correct disruptive behavior, or commit to better attendance. Their parents beamed and applauded, acknowledging their children’s turn to a higher path—seeing not their former shortcomings but their walk in a new way.

The heart-lifting scene offers a small picture of how our heavenly Father sees us—not in our old life but now, in Christ, as His children. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” wrote John (John 1:12).

What a loving perspective! So Paul reminded new believers that once “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). But in fact, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10).

In this way, Peter wrote, we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” and we are now “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10). Through God’s eyes, our old path has no claim on us. Let’s see ourselves as God does—and walk anew.