I pray as you read this God would open up minds to understand, ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to obey.
Matthew 9:35-38 says, “35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” ~ NIV
Jesus saw the multitudes. He recognized the crowds were weary, scattered, and without a shepherd. He was moved with compassion. Jesus did something about what He saw and felt. During His time on earth, He went around teaching, preaching, and healing. We will never feel until we see. Jesus made connections with His eyes. I believe the eyes of Jesus are kind, loving, warm, and inviting. He does not see above or past people but He sees people.
There is a significant difference between eye connections vs eye contact. Eye connections are seeing people as individuals. While eye contact is looking at people but seeing past them. We need to begin to see individuals with our eyes. Becoming busy is a thief. Sometimes we get so busy looking in mirrors and not looking through windows. When an out of sight out of mind mentality takes over if we don’t see we don’t care and we won’t feel what Jesus felt.
When we see people the way that Jesus saw people we will feel for people what Jesus felt for people and we will do for people what Jesus did for people. Today’s society is always in a hurry. A hurried lifestyle will rob us of so many opportunities to minister to people. We can’t make eye connections if we are always in a hurry. Jesus was never in a hurry but accomplished everything He was supposed to do.
His disciples were not superheroes. They were ordinary people. We are also ordinary people who need to make ourselves available to Jesus. He designed the church for battle yet to many are becoming luxury liners. Services are not about us. Instead of thinking I didn’t get anything out of the service shift your perspective to what did God get out of the service. God has created us to pray, work, and harvest His kingdom. We need to connect our eyes and our hearts with our hands and feet.
I challenge you to ask God to help you see your neighbors not as a distraction but as a mission. I will admit I hate traffic with a passion. But instead of getting mad, blowing the horn, and giving the finger of fellowship why don’t you make eye connections and say a prayer for that person. Jesus wants to transform someone that’s not even on your raider right now but in His eyes.
In John 8:1-11 the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground. He told those among Him “who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Once again He bent down and wrote on the ground. When it was just Him and the woman He said, “Neither do I condemn you.” Jesus doesn’t condemn us either. He loves us. What we are feeling He feels and He has done something about it.
