Originally published Tuesday, 27 August 2013.
I caught myself praying this morning and almost out of routine:
“Jesus, thank You so much for today.
Thank you for loving me like you do, even though I am so underserving.
I pray that you give me YOUR eyes Lord…”
And then I stopped for a second, as I could feel myself saying this out of routine.
Jesus’ eyes, the window to His heart- do I really want to pray for that?
I know all of our initial reactions are, Of course we want to be like Jesus! Duh!
But I realized that praying for something like this was no small prayer.
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus would require me to slow down and make time for those that can give me nothing in return.
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus would require me to pray for Miley Cyrus, instead of call her filthy names and retweet every link that bashes her VMA performance.
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus would require that I embrace the hardship and struggles in my day, for they bring me closer to my Father.
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus would require me to see past the mask of a cold heart that my co-worker puts on and ask her, “What is really going on?”
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus would not allow me to make assumptions about people for the car they drive to work, the brand of clothes they wear, the amount of money they make, what part of Dallas they live in or what size they are.
You see, Jesus asked questions.
He spent time with people.
He could’ve come, not talked to a single person about what they needed healed and just perform the miracle.
Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
No, Jesus wanted to know the story.
It was always about each heart, never their circumstances.
He was never one to say, “I’m too busy. I have to turn water into wine at noon.”
No way!
He ALWAYS pressed pause and said, “Hey, you. Yes, you. You matter. Talk to me.”
That’s incredible to me.
I think sometimes Jesus wants to say to us, “Look, I know you feel busy. And the reality is, that you are. You are busy at work. But take a lesson from me, nothing matters more in this life than showing people they are loved.”
Really, I think He would be sad that we ever valued anything over that.
Yes, seeing with the eyes of Jesus requires us to stop for people that we might otherwise overlook.
What did Jesus do when one sheep or one coin went missing?
He pursued that ONE!
Seeing with the eyes of Jesus holds us to a new level of responsibility in our lives.
One that is willing to stop and say, “Hey, you. Yes, you. You matter. Talk to me.”
It might be inconvenient.
It might even feel unnatural! Because reality is, your sinful ways lead to selfish tendencies!
But we will soon realize that when pray and ask to see with His eyes, there is great beauty to be found.
On the street corner.
In the alleyway.
In the heart of the person that you told yourself you couldn’t stand.
You can no longer be apathetic towards the lost. They mean something to you because they mean something to your father.
You feel and appreciate each raindrop.
Life is no longer about you, it’s about your Creator.
I pray that we all yearn to have the eyes of Jesus.
That our only filter is love and the only prescription is intimacy in Him.
Y’all, if we think life is precious now, can you imagine how we would enter our day seeing it through the eyes of Jesus?
It would be a constant opportunity to love.
I think if “Jesus’ view” were a filter on instagram, He would make red Texas dirt look like a goldmine.
Through the eyes of our Maker, every creation has a purpose.
Every person has a story.
Every heartache is not in vain.
And every single detail of our world was delightfully constructed, molded, sculpted in beauty and gleaming with pride as His fingerprints designed His handwork.
Father, we want to see the world and its’ people through You.
Help us.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” -Ecclesiastes 3:11
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