Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:6-11

The challenge can be stated simply: The challenge is to see this world and human life as God sees it. That challenge is easily stated, but done with extreme difficulty. Perhaps in that can be seen the enormous difference between Jesus and us—he could see life and this world as God sees it. Nothing changes a person’s life as profoundly as being able to look at the world and physical, human life as God does.

When I see my enemy as God sees my enemy, that changes the way I look at my enemies. When I see physical possessions as God sees the physical, that changes my motivation for work. When I see my spouse and children as God sees them, that changes the way I treat them. When I see friends as God sees them, it changes the way I treat friends. In fact, seeing the world and life as God sees them changes the way I look at people—in every relationship. The number one person I will look at differently if I see as God sees is . . . ME.

Why will I see ME differently? I discover in increasingly profound ways God’s purposes. My society (since childhood) taught me how to look at myself, at needs, at wants, at the future, at plans, and at my purposes. God teaches me something different.

The more I trust God (the more faith I place in God), the more I see and grasp His purposes. The more I see and grasp His purposes, the more I redefine my purpose. The more I redefine my purpose through God’s objectives, the more I understand that God’s objectives are permanent and my self-centered purposes are temporary. Physical death ends my self-centered purposes. Physical death has no impact on God’s purposes.

I am faced with an immediate but continuing decision: “Will I allow God’s permanent purposes to replace my temporary, self-centered purposes? Or, will I resist God’s purposes?” When I discover and accept God’s purposes, I really can live for something bigger than me. I can live for something more permanent than physical existence. I actually can live for something bigger than death—even when self-centered, physical existence of itself can never be bigger than death.

However, this can only be if I look through God’s eyes. Only by looking through God’s eyes can I see the power of resurrection. Through whose eyes do you see?
 

David Chadwell

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Bulletin Article, 04  December, 2008
 

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