What Do You See?
“…For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b
My nine-year-old son, John, has quite an imagination. He loves to build things with Lego bricks. The other night he said, “Look at this rocket ship I built.” He held up what looked like a square glob of tiny, multicolored, plastic bricks. To me, it looked more like a toaster than a rocket ship.
John spends hours in his room playing with Legos. He builds everything from tractors to towers, from cars to castles, from submarines to space stations. He has quite an imagination.
When I look at those toy plastic bricks, I see toy plastic bricks. When John looks at them, he sees knights slaying dragons, airplanes flying across the sky, and heroes on a jungle quest. In his imagination, Legos are not Legos at all. They are robots, Batmobiles, and skyscrapers.
What people see in their minds and what they see outside are two different things.
Not too long ago, John saved his money to buy a new Lego set. He saved allowance, birthday, and Christmas money. When he had enough for the set he wanted, I took him to Walmart.
As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed a family sitting in an old station wagon. The father sat on the hood. He held a cardboard sign that read, “WILL WORK FOR FOOD.”
The station wagon looked to be on its last leg. The family inside looked dirty and disheveled. They appeared to be living in their car.
I looked over and noticed John was staring at the family. Neither one of us said anything.
We went inside and made our way back to the toy aisle, but John didn’t seem interested in Legos. He looked up and asked, “Can I use my money to buy those people some food?” I choked back tears and answered, “Sure.” John said, “I can’t wait to tell them about Jesus.”
There was an excitement in our steps as we filled up a cart with groceries. We hurried through the checkout, loaded up our car, and drove to the end of the parking lot. John leaned out the window with two bags of groceries, and said, “Sir, I want to give you some food.” The man put down his sign, took the groceries, and said, “Thank you.” John said, “You are welcome, and Jesus loves you.”
To tell the truth, most likely, I would not have noticed the needy family in the station wagon. I am proud of my son. He sees things that I miss.
What people see in their minds and what they see outside are two different things.
We need to see people as God sees them.
The point is: God looks at people differently than you and I look at people. We look at people on the outside. God looks at the heart. It doesn’t matter if you are freshly bathed and wearing a three-piece suit, or dirty wearing a t-shirt, and torn jeans, God looks at your heart.
The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. God loves everyone, but all have sinned, and come short of His glory. Every person we meet is lost without Jesus. The only cure for the sin-sick heart is the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Christ, even people who look nice on the outside go to hell.
When you look at people, what do you see?
Do you see somebody who needs Jesus?
Tell somebody about Him today.
James Collins is pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. He can be reached by email at james@thepointis.net.