What would it look like to view everything through God’s eyes? To me, that is a powerfully humbling thought. Think about it, when He looks at a tree, He sees it’s relationship to the rest of the environment around it; supporting the life around it while being fed by the life around it. When He sees a rock, He sees its entire history, all the way back to the point that He spoke it into existence. When He sees a person – any and every single person on the planet – He sees His child whom He loves to the point of death. His view is broad enough to view all of existence throughout all of time simultaneously. And He looks on all this with love and compassion. What would it look like to view everything through God’s eyes?

These past few days we have been studying a few stories from Scripture that show how God views things differently that we do.

  • Zaachaeus was seen as nothing more than a tax collecting sinner by the other Jews. But Jesus wanted to go to his house. (Luke 19)
  • Samuel assumed that Jesse’s firstborn son would make a good king because he was tall and strong. But God chose the youngest of Jesse’s sons because David was after God’s own heart. (1 Sam 16)
  • Moses saw himself as insufficient; a nobody. But God saw him as a servant that He could wield His power through. (Exodus 3 & 4)
  • Jonah loathed the people of Ninevah and wanted them to be destroyed because of their violence and wickedness. God, however, looked past their violence and wickedness and wanted them to repent and be spared. (Jonah 4)
  • The disciples saw a blind man and assumed that he deserved to be that way because of his or his parents’ actions. Jesus saw an opportunity to show love and compassion to someone in need. (John 9)

I confess that I can identify with all of these stories because I have looked down on people, prejudged people based on their appearance, and looked down on myself.

So how do we start seeing things the way that God does?

First, we need to be in the Word of God daily, filling our minds and our hearts with it. The Bible shows us exactly how God sees things (just like in these 5 stories). Seeing like God starts with knowing how He sees and we only come to know that by studying His Word.
Second, we must “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). Seeing things through God’s eyes does not happen by accident. It takes effort and intentionality to see a person or situation and forcing your thoughts to align with what we have learned in Scripture.
Third, prayer. Lots of it. Pray without ceasing. Pray that God will show you how He sees thing. Pray that God will give you the mental strength to control your thoughts. Pray that you will draw closer to God and that He will draw closer to you.

This theme has been inspiring and challenging for me and I hope that you have also been convicted to examine how you see the world – especially how you see other people – and make the changes so that you can say “ICEE what God Sees!”