‘He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind’ (Luke 4:18 GNB)
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I went for an eye test today, and that in itself is a wonderful thing, that you can have someone look at your eyes and check them, and they can tell you how good your sight is, and then, with small bits of glass surrounded by metal or plastic, correct your vision so that everything will be crisp and clear for you.
But even more amazing, is the fact that they can take a photograph of the back of your eye and see how healthy it is!
But, even with our corrected vision, how much do we really see?
Do we see the homeless people that are so prevalent these days, or do we see people that are scrounging and do not want to work or actually live in today’s society?
Do we see the tragedy of conflict around the world, or do we see people fighting and just trying to take more and more from their country?
Jesus taught us how to see, and he taught us how God sees us.
The prodigal son, or the lost son as it is sometimes referred to, shows us how God loves us and sees us, and even waits for us to come back to him, even when we have done wrong, (Luke 16:11-32).
The son leaves his father, just as we humans are prone to walk away from God, but the fantastic image Jesus gives us is the one of the Father God waiting for us to return to him; of the loving father anxiously waiting for the return of his son, and the rejoicing when he does return.
’I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents’ (Luke 15:10 NIV).
So, when one of us sinners decides that God’s way is best, and in my humble opinion it is, heaven rejoices, and that is a party I would love to see.
We all sin, and the people that say they do not sin, are sinning as they speak;
‘For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23 ESV – emphasis mine).
No-one is above reproach, we are weak sinful people who desperately need the loving mercy and amazing grace that is so freely offered by Jesus.
‘But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.’ (Romans 5:15 NLT).
The parable of the lost sheep also shows us how important we are, and that God wants us to be part of his flock, his family of believers. God has a reckless love for us that we sometimes find hard to comprehend. I know I sometimes look at my life and all of the many mistakes I have made, and some of the have been stupendous errors of judgement, and marvel at the fact that Jesus still wants me to be part of his family, and that he loves me, that really is amazing!
In the word of the song;
‘There’s no shadow you won’t light up, mountain you won’t climb up, coming after me’ (Reckless Love – 2018 – C. Ashby, C. Culver, R. Jackson).
Even the prophets were shown visions;
‘Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I (God) will show you’ (Ezekiel 40:4 – addition mine).
God wants us to see what he has for each of us. We need to look at what he is teaching us, and the way that we see, is by reading and studying the ‘God inspired words’ of The Bible.
Sometimes, the phrase open your eyes, has nothing to do with actually opening our eyes, it is more to do with seeing a situation rather than looking around and not actually seeing what is happening.
We may look around us, but how often we do not ‘see’ something because we do not want to.
‘The Somebody Else’s Problem field is much simpler and more effective, and what’s more can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery. This is because it relies on people’s natural disposition not to see anything that they don’t want to, weren’t expecting, or can’t explain’ (Douglas Adams – Life, the Universe and Everything – Pan Books – 1982).
We have a tendency to ‘tune-out’ things that make us uncomfortable, so the homeless person who we may not like to see, becomes something we do not see.
As a Christian though, the things we do not like to see, or things that make us uncomfortable, are exactly the things that we should see, and take action against.
I am not by any stretch of the imagination saying that this is easy, it is far from easy, but it is what Jesus did, and we, as Christians should be trying to emulate, or copy what Jesus did.
‘A new command I give you: Love one another’ (John 13:34 NIV).
Very hard to do!
Some people we do not like, and some, to use the words of a film, we;
‘Loathe entirely’ (How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Universal Pictures – 2000).
But we are called to love, and even pray for those who hurt us;
‘But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matthew 5:44 NIV).
So we should not hate or ignore or not see things that we do not like! No-one ever said being a Christian was going to be easy, we are actually called to take up our crosses;
‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’ (Luke 9:23 NIV).
So following Jesus is a life of sacrifice, a life of seeing the things that we would rather not see, a life of helping those that we may not want to interact with, a life of serving those we would rather ignore, it is a life of loving the unlovable.
Many years ago, my youngest daughter was at a meal with the family, and she was told that we had swede.
“Urgh, I don’t like swede” she said, but she had never actually tried it, and when she did try some, she realised that she did like the vegetable.
Some people look at Christianity and Christians and find them bizarre. “Why would you put your life in the hands of someone you cannot see” they sometime say, or “I cannot believe in something I cannot see”.
I sometimes reply that they believe in gravity, yet cannot see it, or they believe in oxygen and equally cannot see it.
But, as Christians we do believe.
We believe that God loves us (John 3:16), we believe God ants the best for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and we believe that God can teach us what we need to know (Psalm 32:8).
But if you are reading this and do not know Jesus, all I can say is, try looking for the answers you seek within The Bible;
‘Taste and see that the LORD is good’ (Psalm 34:8 NIV).
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Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
But You have been so, so kind to me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Reckless Love
Cory Ashby, Caleb Culver, Ran Jackson
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Father, we thank you for your amazing love, that you love us even when we do not know or love you. Lord show us the things that we really need to see, the situations that we need to delve into so that we may show your love to the dark world that we live in. Lord we desperately need you in our live, and so does the rest of the world, may we each get the chance to make a difference in another’s life, that we may share and show your love to those we meet.
Amen
Bobbles Stuff 