How Do We See Others?
By Charlie Rowan
We must always remember Jesus died to judge us to the Father’s heart.
(Matthew 6: 23 and Matthew 5:39-48)
As part of a mentoring program I am in, I recently I read a book that I could not stand until I got to page 100 or so. There were things in the beginning that were way off the mark. The author and I disagreed, to say the least. These points of contention for me would not send a person to hell, but would keep you bound and not allow you to walk in certain places of freedom.
However, I submitted to the program and after getting past places of strong disagreement I found places of great beauty that convicted me. I repented and I will be changed by it.
See, God began to speak to me through this process and used this book as an example. How many times do we meet someone and because we have strong places of disagreement, we just cut them off or dismiss them from our lives? What if we need to press further for a place of agreement in order to learn from one another? What if WE are supposed to be the person who brings truth to the areas where they are in darkness? What if we are their freedom fighter?
I believe this is a beautiful message. Am I looking for places of disagreement in people so that I can use that as an excuse to exclude them from my life? An excuse to not have to let them in, because of my past pain, perhaps? Have I become so selective, that hardly anyone can get close to me? Especially someone that I find a fault in. In doing this, it denies me the ability to see the beauty in them and them the ability to see the beauty in me! What if we each have what the other needs to be free? Then I began to think – am I looking for a place to exit relationships or a place to merge? By being in relationships ONLY with those who are like me, or don’t rattle me, could miss out on blessings from the Lord that will only come through certain people.
What is my point?
We must always be mindful of how we are looking at people or the motive of how we judge. Are we looking at people through a microscope or with a panoramic view? Don’t get me wrong sometimes we must use microscopes, but not all the time. If we used a microscope for everything we probably would never leave the house and we for sure would not ever eat out. LOL
My point is we would live a very restricted life. It would allow us to be offended so easily and cause separation. But, if we were searching for a place of beauty, a place of agreement, that we could start a relationship from to build upon, I believe we would experience a lot more beauty, kindness and general well-being!
Now let’s bring scripture into this. Who is the devil? The accuser of the brethren, the condemner. Revelation 12: 9 – 11. Who is Christ? The Redeemer – the One who buys back. The definition goes on to include:- to free us from what distresses or alarms, to free from captivity, to extricate from or help us to overcome something detrimental, to release from blame or debt, to free from the consequences of sin. To change for the better.
Romans 5: 6-11 Jesus would die while we were nothing but ugly and searching. He was willing to die, to lay down an “on ramp” as a place for us to merge with Him. Jesus had no problem seeing ugly, however, He chose to see only His Father’s original design for us and was willing to die to bring it to life.
Romans 8:1. A lot of times we will let certain ugly people in our life, because we know that they will disappoint us, and it will be easy to let them go, therefore, it won’t hurt us. (we don’t really expect much else) But, it is often more difficult when there is someone we see potential in. If we let someone (that we deem “good”) in and they disappoint us, now that would hurt, and our love would have to be a lot bigger than it currently is. This would also expose a place in us that we might not want to see.
John 13 :34 -35, Ephesians 5:25. How can our love change the world if our homes and marriages don’t look much different than the world’s? There is no doubt that there are different kinds of love, but let us focus on only one: the love that will die to find a way to bring unity – not a love that searches to find differences that causes division.
Hebrews 4:12. God’s love is a love that creates the on ramp (at His expense) to make a place to merge, to separate anything from us that would keep us from becoming what He designed us to be.
John 10:10. Satan’s way is to find a weakness, that he can exploit for his purpose, to keep us from being what God designed us to be…to enslave us with it, shame us and condemn us.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10. God takes a weakness and makes it a place of strength and beauty and freedom.
Brothers and Sisters, I say let’s purpose to look at others and expect and hope for the good! Let’s see people and wonder what we can learn from each other. Let’s build relationships built on Christ in us, the hope of glory. Let’s be the good that people need to see. Let’s apply Philippians 4:8 to our relationships and 1 Corinthians 13 – the love chapter. Let’s bear long, and think on good things! This is Christ! This is the kingdom way!
Lord I pray that the freedom that You bought for us, the beauty that You displayed by laying down Your life, (Your perfect life for us while we were yet sinners) That even while our lives were in total opposition to You, I pray Lord that this love would be found in us and that our hearts, our minds and our vision will always look for redemption in others. May we always look for a onramp to bring others to merge onto he kingdom highway. May we never compromise Your principles and have wisdom to know who is ready to merge and who is our particular assignment. May Your kingdom come your will be done here on earth, and in our lives, as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN
- Date - May 12, 2018
- Author - The Rock Parkersburg
