MATTHEW 9:36 – When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

THEME OF THE DAY: SEEING PEOPLE THROUGH JESUS’ EYES.  How do we see people? All people.  Those we know. Those we don’t.  It is a very important question for the answer determines our commitment to be used of the Lord to influence our worlds for Him or not.

In today’s scripture, we observe how Jesus saw people.  He had eyes of compassion for the crowds because of their spiritual condition. They were like sheep without a shepherd. All throughout the Bible, people are likened to sheep – All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).  And as sheep, we need a shepherd. Sheep are easily frightened, timid, require constant supervision, and quick prey for predators.  In the spiritual realm, without the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd of the sheep, the devil, like a roaring lion prowls around seeking to devour sheep (1 Peter 5:8).

Back to our seeing of people and now the question changes a little – do we see people as Jesus does?  And that means first and foremost their spiritual condition – sheep without a shepherd (unbeliever) and sheep with Jesus as their Shepherd.  As this type of eyesight is developed, we then approach and handle people like we are commanded to – getting the gospel to lost sheep and bringing encouragement to Jesus’ sheep.

First when we see the unsaved with the eyes of Jesus, we yearn for their salvation and will get the gospel to them.  The Great Commission will be a burden upon us compelling us to go to those sheep without a shepherd with the Gospel – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). The eyesight of Jesus for the lost moves our heart to them with the gospel.

Then the eyesight of Jesus for His sheep.  Such vision motivates us to the ministry of encouragement as we see in the life of the Apostle Paul.  One example is his heart for the believers in Rome – For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine (Romans 1:11-12). When we see the Lord’s people as He sees His people, our love for them intensifies, and we joyfully seek to encourage them in the Lord.

So, eyesight is everything, and especially when it comes to seeing people. May the Lord grant that we see all people through His eyes and respond as He would to them.

PRAYER: “Father, give me eyes like Your Son to see people as He does.”

QUOTE: “To influence our worlds for Christ, we must see the world through Christ.”

In the affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim