LifeLink Devotions

Friday, October 8, 2021

https://anchor.fm/s/534c43b8/podcast/rss

I have a question nagging at me that just won’t go away. I believe it is God’s question for all of us. It comes from the very heart of God and His concern for a lost world of people. The question is this: “How many people this week did I see through the eyes of God and recognize their hopeless condition of being led away to death by their sin?”

That question rises from the words of Solomon in our Wisdom verse for today.

Proverbs 24:11-12 “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’  does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”

I saw lots of people this week. They seem to be everywhere. I saw happy people. I saw angry people. I saw determined people. I saw distracted people. I saw people I would want to know better. I saw people I tried to avoid. I saw people in all kinds of situations going about their duties and calling it life.

I made judgments about people based on my perceptions of them. I responded to people in different ways because of those judgments. I saw their exterior and determined their worth and value, usually based on the return I would get from contact with them. 

What I did not do very often was to see their heart from God’s perspective and realize that whatever was on the outside could be radically changed by the transforming power of Jesus in their heart. I noticed their physical condition without recognizing the spiritual need that caused it. I need to sit up and take notice of people from God’s perspective.

But then another question nags at me:“What will I do about it when I do see people through the eyes of God?”

It doesn’t do a person any good to sit up and take notice if he keeps on sitting. Taking notice of people’s spiritual condition puts us on the right track, but as Will Rogers once said, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”  Once I recognize the spiritual need in every person’s life, I must also recognize that I know the answer to their need, and that I have the Power to share that answer with them.

As you prepare to worship in church this weekend, please consider this: one reason you are there is to be equipped to better represent Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world of people. Between now and the time you go to church, how many people will you pass and meet who are being led away to death? You can choose right now to start seeing them through the eyes of God. So many people will pass into a Christless eternity. We can and must make an impact on them. 

Pastor John