― Confucius
I was visiting with a friend yesterday, when her daughter approached to say she was leaving to drop off a few job applications and go for a job interview. My friend took the pile of applications her daughter held and prayed over them. One thing she asked God for really stood out to me. "Lord, have these people see my daughter as I see her." Powerful statement. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world could see our kids through our eyes? We know the struggles they have suffered through, the wins and the losses. We have seen them when they are sick, when they triumph over a long battle and when they cry over deep hurts. We have more of a complete picture than any person who would meet them on the street today or even any teacher who sits through class with them or even that best friend of many years. We see when they have to fake feelings for others sake and we see them in trials so great every true characteristic cannot be hidden. We have seen them at their worst and we have seen them at their best.
I admire people who are the same in every part of their life. That person who is the same at work as he is at church. He is the same at play as he is beside the bed of a dying friend. Real people. I love real people. You can depend on them.
We only get glimpses into each others lives. Maybe we know somebody from seeing them once a week at church. More times than not this is probably not a clear example of who they really are. The person we see at work who is in charge of many, may not be the same bossy person at home with his children. There is life and death in words. We may have heard words spoken by someone that changed our whole view of who they are, but should we do this if we are unaware of the hidden battles they are facing?
We are supposed to see everyone through the eyes of Jesus. Regardless of skin color, height, weight, smile or frown, if we could truly see each other as Jesus sees us wouldn't this be a different world. I have known people in my life who come across to others as very angry, judgmental and selfish, but I know their battle. I know what their childhood was like, the losses they have suffered and the things they have gone without. I defend them with words that basically say, "Look at them through my eyes."
Our own experiences also feed what we see. Some people see an old beat up car sitting behind a garage. Other people see that same car as a classic. They see that there is no rust, the body is straight with no damage from previous accidents, and imagine it with a paint job and nice wheels. Some people see an old house as an eyesore that should be torn down, while the next person sees a sturdy foundation, walls that need paint and see that a wrap around porch would change a box of a building into a warm and inviting home. They can walk into the building and almost hear the voices of children playing and families gathering and the smell of dinner on the stove.
We have heard of active listening. Shouldn't we engage in active seeing? This is easier for some than others, maybe even a gift. I have watched programs about neighborhoods that are banding together to get prostitutes out of their area. They chase them down with cameras and try to expose them and the men who pay for them. It often times works, but what if they saw this from a different angle? What if they saw a prostituted person as Jesus sees them. Most likely they were sexually abused as children. Most often they don't want to be selling their bodies and they are forced by parents, pimps, or need. Jesus loves them.
We tend be irritated by those "other" religions that show up at our door trying to convince us that they know the truth. Are we supposed to slam the door in their faces? Or are we supposed to show them the love that we would show a lost child? How does Jesus see them? They are God's lost children, waiting to be found. The prostituted, the deceived, the misinformed are all God's lost children and aren't we suppose to lead them back to their Father? We would, if they were toddlers lost in a mall, wouldn't we?
Another thing to take into consideration is the spiritual warfare we are all facing whether we want to acknowledge it or not. That same friend, when speaking about her husband stated, "When I think it is his flesh that is causing his behavior, I tend to get angry with him, but when I think of the demonic influence he may be under, then my anger is aimed at the true enemy." Back to the lost child at the mall, do we see that crying toddler as a misbehaving child who has purposefully wandered away from his father? Or a truly lost child? What if a predator was taking this opportunity to grab a hold of that child? Then we would be sure to step in. Or would we, even then?
If we saw the world through the supernatural eyes of Jesus, what would change in our lives? We are children, His children. We are struggling. We are all fighting our battles, the war. We are all worth dying for, according to our Father. If you don't feel close enough to Him to see His children through His eyes, just start your next prayer a little more personal and call Him Daddy and just see what happens in your heart.
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone one who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: New Testament: The King James Version
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