THE WAY WE LOOK AT OTHERS

  Greetings in the name of Jesus:



     In what way do you look at others?   This is a question that has been on my mind for a while now because as I have grown in Christ I have found that the way I look at other people around me has been changing more everyday.

 For the most part I had always looked at people from the outside in.  I could see an emotion on their face , but I never went any deeper other than to form a snap judgment about what I saw there  If I saw  a young person roll their eyes at something I could easily make a comment to myself about the disrespect of today's kids for authority, or if I saw someone in a bad mood I could make up a scenario of what may have taken place to make them feel the ways they did, but I rarely allowed myself to go any deeper into the condition they may be dealing with in life.

  Over the years I have come to realize a few things about our purpose and calling as the church that are causing me to see people differently.  God has called on us to minister to one another in love; showing preference over one another to this world.  I personally had not put together the fact that we really are to concentrate on ministry to one another as a form of demonstration to the world around us of what they could have in Christ if they would turn their lives over to Him in the ways we have.  I began to see that the real power of the church has never really been in going out into this world and converting others to Christ in the ways we have taken it to mean.  Our job is very simple...to love one another in Christ as He has loved us, and to show one another that kind of mercy and consideration as an example for the world to see.  It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict hearts and to draw those people to the church so that we in turn can minister to them as well.

  When I began to understand this more deeply I found that I had begun to look at other people differently than I ever had.  I found myself able to see someone in distress from across a room.  I found myself wondering why I was having these urges to speak to someone from time to time about what I could feel that was being hidden there.  For a long time I found myself shying away from speaking out what the Holy Spirit was telling me about people I saw in church, and then I realized that it was God calling me to do what we should do in the church; which is to pray for one another and lift each other up in the Spirit.  It was my job in the church and in every time I gathered for fellowship with Christians to be ready to minister.  It was not the preacher's job, but my job and it is your job as well.  Now when I look at someone I no longer see them in a physical form be it a young person or a troubled adult, but I look for their eyes to tell me what is going on inside..  Now I look at the soul inside of someone when I speak to them, and I am trying to do that more as I grow bolder in Christ.  Now I am beginning to understand the things that Jesus meant about going into the whole world had little to do with the missionary work that some are called to, but rather finding the ministry that I need to be doing right where I am.  The Holy Spirit sometime ago gave me a phrase that I use about  the times when God calls us to minister to another person  " A DIVINE APPOINTMENT" and we all have them almost everyday of our lives if we are looking for them.  I believe my dear one that we can change the world around us by simply the ways we are looking at others.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT