How We See People

All is right with the world! I went floating and fishing with a friend on the Current River in southern Missouri yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and I caught two smallmouth bass. (In case any Department of Conservation personnel are reading, I put them back. For the rest of you, they're out of season right now!)

I've learned that all evangelism, faith-sharing, and disciple-making is built on prayer. Jesus-followers associate such outreach with evangelistic preaching, visitation programs, revivals and other activities which are all worthwhile. However, none of these will replace life-yielding, heart-of-God-seeking prayer.

How do we begin to pray for our communities and people within them? In our church's Evangelism Team, we've learned that prayer has to start with seeking to see other people as God sees them. What does that mean? I'm reminded of a video I once saw on YouTube, I think from a church in Little Rock, Arkansas. (I'm having a little sense of deja vu right now, like I might have brought this up in a previous post...) In the video, a guy who is in a hurry to get to work, sees the people around him as hindrances to his progress. Then he miraculously starts to see each of these people with subtitles to them; things like, "Wishes somebody would love her just as she is," or "Thinking about suicide," or "Scared to death about losing his job," or "Just got diagnosed with Cancer," or "Doesn't think God cares about him." This imaginary phenomenon changes the hurried man's day, and changes his view of the people he contacts.

Let's try this for the next week. Any time we're out in public, let's invite God to direct our attention to one person whom we might otherwise overlook, or whom we might categorize in our minds and dismiss. In each person's case, let's say a prayer that starts this way: "God, where is this person in need, and how does he/she need to meet and know you?" Anyone who is interested, let's covenant together to invite God to see people as God's heart sees them.

The river is a little high, but running fast and clear. I'll see you around the next bend.