“I asked that God would help me to see that man as He sees him if I pass him again. ” – Sara Barnes, China Missionary
This was a line that caught my attention in a recent journal entry from Sara. While walking down the street she passed a man whose face was badly burned, so badly burned that it was painful to look at. She hurried past him and later felt crushed that she had not done more.
How often have we all done the same thing? In an effort to move past something uncomfortable, we rush past, push it aside, repress it. It’s a normal HUMAN reaction. It is not natural for us to be unselfish. As Christians we are constantly being molded into the image of Christ. We are given trials and opportunities to shed little pieces of our humanity and to become something altogether supernatural. Granted, we will never become anything more than human while we are constrained by our flesh, but while we are here on earth, we get the opportunity to show Christ to others through our actions.
I, like Sara, want to do my best to pause when I have the opportunity to be Christ someone and I want to see that person, no matter how ugly, the way Christ sees them – as his beautiful creation. Let me see them through grace and love, the love that can only come from something that is not human. Love that can only come from God.
Thanks Sara for sharing your story, it touched me and I am sure it will change others too.
Here is a little more of Sara’s story:
As we were leaving the subway station, we passed a man that I remember from when Senator and I lived in that neighborhood 7 years ago. His face is so badly burned that it’s hard for me to describe it to you. Hard to describe firstly because most of it is burned beyond recognition, but secondly because it is just so hard to look him that I can’t recall a complete picture of him mentally. And today, my maternal hyper-protective instincts kicked in and I hurried the kids past, hoping they wouldn’t notice him.
I’m not sure if I thought I was protecting the kids from an image that might be too much for their young minds or protecting him from what their possible reactions would be, but after we were out of the station, one thing was clear. Whether I had been with the kids or alone, the urge to hurry past and look away would have been just as strong.
And then I remembered the bottle cap mural, and the song, and my heart felt crushed. I wondered if I were alone if I could sit down face to face and have what little conversation my current language skills will allow me too. (There is no danger or risk involved, these beggars sit in broad daylight amongst crowds of wealthy foreigners.) I know that 7 years ago I didn’t. But I’ve learned a lot about our God in those 7 years, I know better than ever that God doesn’t see as I see. I asked that God would help me to see that man as He sees him if I pass him again.
Our current language level prohibits us from having in depth, spontaneous conversations the way we’d like to, but I am fully capable of offering someone a snack and a smile. I even know how to ask them if they believe in Jesus and if they say no, I know how to tell them that whether or not you believe, there certainly is a God who loves you.
But in order to do any of that, we must be willing to resist the urge to hurry past. Pray that we would have courage and boldness for such moments. In all reality, the guests at the Renewal Center are typically quite easy to love. They are clean and well dressed and happy to be there. But there are still many in our midst just as desperately in need of hope, even if they have no interest in our showers.
17 replies on “See As God Sees”
This web site was… how will you say it? Relevant!!
Finally I’ve found a thing that helped me.
Kudos!
my webpage college ruled notebook 5 subject
Perfect update of captcha regignizing package “XRumer 19.0 + XEvil 5.0”:
Captchas recognition of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Microsoft, MailRu, SolveMedia, Steam,
and more than 12000 another subtypes of captchas,
with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM software: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other programms.
Interested? You can find a lot of demo videos about XEvil in YouTube.
Free XEvil Demo available.
Good luck 😉
P.S. A Huge Discount -30% for XEvil full version until 15 Jan is AVAILABLE! 🙂
XEvil.Net
Incredible update of captcha regignizing package “XRumer 19.0 + XEvil 5.0”:
Captchas breaking of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Microsoft, MailRu, SolveMedia, Hydra,
and more than 12000 another types of captchas,
with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM programms: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other programms.
Interested? You can find a lot of impessive videos about XEvil in YouTube.
Free XEvil Demo available.
Good luck 😉
P.S. A Huge Discount -30% for XEvil full version until 15 Jan is AVAILABLE! 🙂
XEvil.Net
Revolutional update of captchas recognition package “XRumer 19.0 + XEvil 5.0”:
Captchas regignizing of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Hotmail, MailRu, SolveMedia, Hydra,
and more than 12000 another size-types of captchas,
with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM programms: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other software.
Interested? There are a lot of impessive videos about XEvil in YouTube.
Free XEvil Demo available.
Good luck!
P.S. A Huge Discount -30% for XEvil full version until 15 Jan is AVAILABLE! 🙂
XEvil.Net
Absolutely NEW update of captchas solution software “XRumer 19.0 + XEvil 5.0”:
Captcha solution of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Hotmail, Mail.Ru, SolveMedia, Steam,
and more than 12000 another types of captchas,
with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM software: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other programms.
Interested? You can find a lot of impessive videos about XEvil in YouTube.
Free XEvil Demo available.
Good luck!
P.S. A Huge Discount -30% for XEvil full version until 15 Jan is AVAILABLE! 🙂
XEvil.Net
Incredible update of captchas solving software “XRumer 19.0 + XEvil”:
Captchas breaking of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Microsoft, Mail.Ru, SolveMedia, Hydra,
and more than 12000 another types of captcha,
with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM programms: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other programms.
Interested? You can find a lot of demo videos about XEvil in YouTube.
FREE DEMO AVAILABLE!
Good luck 😉
P.S. A Huge Discount -30% for XEvil full version until 15 Jan is AVAILABLE! 🙂
XEvil.Net
the people’s pharmacy rx express pharmacy mexican pharmacy
pharmacy rx one reviews ?»?viagra online canadian pharmacy 24 hours pharmacy
best ed medication erectile dysfunction drug canadian pharmacy online
Hello, I read your new stuff as with any week. Your writing style is witty, keep within the good work!
Feel free to surf to my page – coin purse insert
best drugstore eyeliner e d best drugstore eyeliner
best drugstore face moisturizer best drugstore mascara pharmacy near me
Loved seeing the last blog post and yet so bittersweet. Shina Saunderson Faustus
24 hour pharmacy near me cheap viagra online canadian pharmacy pharmacy open near me
approved canadian online pharmacies the people’s pharmacy drugstore makeup
Wonderful blog! I stumbled upon it while surfing around on Yahoo News.
Are you experiencing any tips on how to get indexed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for some time having said that i never often arrive!
Appreciate it
my page … productivity
Does your blog use a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d love to shoot you an e-mail.
I’ve got some recommendations to your blog you might be
considering hearing. In any case, great blog and so
i enjoy seeing it expand with time.
Look into my blog post :: stickers cute