Do You See What HE Sees?

Matthew 4 contains one of my very favorite Bible verses. It is
subtle, but so challenging.

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at
the tax collectors booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got
up and followed him.” – Matthew 4:9

In this small passage we learn but another amazing attribute about
our Savior; He sees in others More…what no one else can. Matthew
was a tax collector which was a very unpopular profession in those
days.

It was common knowledge among the people that tax collectors
charged more than they were supposed to and pocketed the profits.

Did Matthew participate in this behavior? We do not know but he was
certainly guilty by association in the minds of most. Additionally
Matthew was a Jew working to collect taxes for Herod and the Roman
Empire. The other Jews in the town would have viewed him as a
traitor.

So there was Matthew at his tax collecting table when this man
Jesus came walking through town. Across a busy and dusty street
their eyes met. While everyone else in town saw a tax collector,
Jesus saw an evangelist. When everyone else saw a weak Jewish
servant of Herod, Jesus saw a strong servant of God. When everyone
saw a thief, Jesus saw a man who would ultimately give his life for
the cause of Christ.

The eyes of the Creator met with the eyes of the created and Jesus
simply said, “Follow me.”

Jesus saw in Matthew what no one else did.

Every Thursday we have our youth rally. At 6:15 (with a 7:00 start
time) I stand on the sidewalk by the parking lot hoping to greet
students as they come and make some positive parent contacts.

I watch as all kinds of kids show up for church. The popular and the
unpopular, the 13 year old and the 17 year old, the loud and the
quiet, they all come.

And somewhere through iPods, oversize clothes, heavy make-up, and
posturing for friends, my assignment is to pray that my eyes will
see what God sees in them.

My confession is that it is not always an easy task to see the
potential in others. For all the kids that really stand out and
their talents are obvious, there are those that it is real hard to
see what God might do with them.

But that is my problem, not God’s.

Just as Jesus took the life of a tax collector and made him an
evangelist, so He can take the life of a sloppy, apathetic teen and
make them somebody for the Kingdom of God.

My challenge is the same as yours. I must continually condition my
eye sight to see in others what God sees in them.

How are you doing in this area? I hope that you will join me in the
quest to look at every teenager who comes in our path, and see what
they can be for our Lord.

See You next week!

Greg Gunn

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