A Pause To Ponder God's Word
"What You See..."

There is a rather common occurrence in my house. My wife will ask me to look for something. I go to the place she has told me the item is. I look, but I do not find it. When I tell her I can't find it, she cannot believe that its not there. She comes and almost immediately finds the item and retrieves it. Then she holds it up and gives me, "that look." I sheepishly reply with some quip like, "Oh, that's what you ask for!" My response is more than an attempt to cover my embarrassment. Often I didn't see the item because I really wasn't looking for it. The fact is that what we see depends upon what we looking for.

When Jesus walked the dusty roads rubbing shoulders with the likes of you and me, He saw things much differently than His followers. When the children came seeking to spend time with Jesus, the disciples saw a noisy group of kids who would be a annoyance. Jesus saw the people of His Kingdom. The disciples saw the hungry crowd as a group that should be sent off to fend for themselves. Jesus saw an opportunity to feed, teach, and display divine glory. The disciples saw the almost ripened wheat fields as grain soon to be harvested. Jesus saw a living parable about the harvest now ripe for the Kingdom. The crowd saw the blind beggar as a nuisance beside the roadside, who should be silenced. Jesus saw a man who had faith and needed His healing touch. The accusers saw the adulterous women as an object of condemnation to receive her just punishment. Jesus saw a woman enslaved by sin needing forgiveness and freedom from her sin. The people saw the Pharisees as the epitome of righteousness. Jesus saw them as blind self-righteous sinners attempting to lead the blind, who needed eyes to see rightly and enter The Kingdom. The disciples saw the cross as the end. Jesus saw it as the means to the end. The disciples saw Jesus' death as defeat. Jesus saw His death as victory. The disciples saw the tomb as the final word on and resting place for Jesus. Jesus saw it as the final word on sin and death and a place of resurrection victory.

In our walk with Jesus, it is not very long before we realize that He sees differently than we. It need not be this way. It should not be this way. In Christ we have new eyes that have the ability to see as Jesus sees. They need training, development, and honing, but we have them. By God's Spirit we can see our enemy as an object of love rather than hate. We can see the crowds as people in need of a Savior rather than those people who are against us. We can see the traffic jam as a wonderful opportunity to pray and contemplate the wonder of God's grace rather than an aggravation which will make us late again. We can see opposition as an opportunity to share God's grace rather than an opportunity to fight back. We can see the living parables in everyday life, through which God reveals Himself. Frederick Bucchner put it well when he said, "if we are to love our neighbors, before anything else we must to see our neighbors. Like artists, we must see not just their faces, but the life behind and within their faces."

Do not confuse this with the shallow Polly Anna optimism, that refuses to face life honestly. It is far more than that. It is the radical optimism of grace! It is love and grace and transformation. It is seeing as Jesus sees.

So, what are you looking for?

Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
Return to Devotional Index