MATTHEW 9:35-38 – And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

THEME OF THE DAY. SEEING PEOPLE THROUGH JESUS’ EYES. I’ve been asking myself the question lately, and especially during this pandemic, “How do I see people in the world?” It is a good question because how I see people will determine at least three things – how I pray for people, if I am serving people, and more importantly, just how close to the heart of Jesus I really am.

In today’s scripture, we find ourselves placed in a position to discover how Jesus sees people. From this position, two things emerge in the life of our Lord that serve as models leading us to Jesus-like action toward people.

First, Jesus sees people with compassion – “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them.” There is a qualifier if we are to see people with Jesus-like compassion. We have to get our eyes off ourselves. What hinders us the most from having the heart and eyes of Jesus looking at people with compassion? Selfishness or self-love. Should our focus be all about ourselves, we won’t see with the Lord’s eyes. We will be blinded to the hurting all around us. We will be blinded to those gripped in fear. We will be blinded to those crying to be loved. We will be blinded to those needing a simple world of encouragement. Now would be a good time to look into the mirror and ask, “How is my eyesight when it comes to people? Is the ‘lens on my glasses’ dirty with sinful self-love blurring my view of people as Jesus sees them?” If so, pause, and then make it a daily prayer, “Lord, help me to get my eyes off myself and see people as you do with compassion that moves me to action.”

A second way Jesus sees people is with spiritual eyesight – “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Yes, Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead, but He was primarily on a spiritual mission. He saw people in a spiritual way, and so must we because the spiritual is the real issue in life and eternity. Friends, there are only two types of people in the world; those outside of Christ needing Him to become their Savior/Shepherd and those in Christ needing to be reminded He is their Savior/Shepherd. If we are seeing people with the spiritual eyes of the Lord Jesus, we will be sharing the gospel with those needing Him as Savior/Shepherd and we will be sharing the comforts of His Word for those sheep of His needing a comforting touch from their Savior/Shepherd.

So let me encourage us to ask the question, “Am I seeing people like Jesus?” If we are, it will change our spiritual lives in a radical and good way. Why? We will becoming what God intends in our salvation – becoming more like His Son.

PRAYER: “Father, help me see people through the eyes of Your Son, and move me to act upon what I see.”

QUOTE: “To walk with Jesus means a lot of things and one is seeing people as He did and serving them as He did.”