Tuesday, August 4, 2009

As Jesus Sees

August is here! Time for children to head off to school and time for our revival, plus this year there will be a revival for the youth. Another busy month where it’s easy to get caught up in all we have going on and forget about others. So what can we do to prepare ourselves for this busy month?
First the most important thing we can do is pray. Before we can pray we need to prepare ourselves for prayer. Start by taking a minute a looking at people the way God looks at them. Think back through your day. Think of everyone you have met today. How did you see them?
What do you know about them? What problems are they having? What good things do they have going on in their life? Often I’m so busy with my life that I forget to take a minute and look at people as Jesus would.
When Jesus sat down at the well(John 4:6-29) with the Samarian woman He didn’t look at her like the Jews or even his own disciple did. The Samarians were hated by the Jews. The Samarians worshipped God but they also worshipped idols. In the apocryphal book of Sirach we can see in the words of a Jew exactly how they felt about the Samarians. Sirach 50:25-26 There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation: They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem.
Plus this woman had multiple adulterous affairs; a good Jew would never defile himself by speaking to her. But Jesus looked past all this and spoke and asked for water. Jesus spoke kindly and lovingly to her. Jesus told her that He was the deliverer. Thanks to Jesus not looking at her with condemnation and hate she came to know Jesus and brought others to Him. This is how we should look at God’s people. With love!

MSW

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