There was a blind man that had been blind for quite sometime. One day, he happened to be in the midst of a man, who could possibly help him with his problem. Some believed that the man could help this blind man. As a matter of fact, others around begged him to help the blind man. Although everyone was probably looking for an outward display of a miracle, instead this man led the blind man outside the town......and then he spat on the blind man's eyes. Miraculously, the blind man was able to see but not quite clearly. When asked what he saw, he explained his vision as "I see men, as trees, walking". This was not good enough. The man then placed his hands on the not-so-blind man's eyes again and asked him to look up one more time and explain what he saw. Now, his sight was completely restored, and he saw men, as men.
This story is recorded in Mark 8:22-26. Great story!
I heard a very simple message today (regarding this scripture) and I was really challenged. Well, it showed me something that I/we easily and comfortably overlook. And that is - the way God sees people vs the way we see people. We often see people as trees, and we know that this is NOT the way God sees them. In fact, we get so burdened with our own perspectives, agendas, justifications, selfish thoughts that we are not able to see lost souls as nothing more than trees.
Keep in mind that lost souls are not only the unchurched or the unsaved. Lost souls are people like you and I...people that are only familiar with traumatic lives, people going through difficulties of life, people dealing with diverse trials, people that are not able to make any decisions in life, people that are stagnant between their past and their future, people that are just trying to make it, people that are not able to navigate through their every day life, people that you and I actually know....etc.
I really believe that God wants to restore my vision in respect to how I see people. I want to see people the way God sees them, not the way I see them or what I think they look like. I don't want to have to go through the lesson again, I want to get it the first time around! I believe that the blind man's first response had a judgmental edge to it....because I know I do that sometimes. When I see people, I immediately judge them by what I remember of them or whatever mindset I am in at the time. This is selfish and IT IS NOT God's way. How am I going to reach people if I keep this type of attitude, right?
God always looks at us with the heart of a father, with compassion, grace and mercy. And I am forever grateful to Him for it. If He looked at me with the lens of all the things that I have done wrong, then I wouldn't have a chance. And neither would you!
I pray for us ladies, that we allow God to restore or renew our vision, so we can see people the way He does.
“People only see what they are prepared to see.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
