“Give Me Your Eyes For Just One Second”
What goes through your mind when you pass a car broken down on the side of the road? Sometimes I see if there is someone on the phone calling for help or what appears to me to be someone initiating an ‘action plan.’ But if I’m being honest, most times I drive right by, so focused on where I’m going and what is in my future it’s as if they are invisible to me.
A week or so ago, I was doing a visit, and on my way home, I passed a van being loaded onto a tow truck. I initially drove by, but then I thought I recognized the stranded driver, so I turned around and offered my assistance.
What was different about that interaction than normal? I viewed it through different eyes. Instead of it just being another stranded driver, I thought, what if that was my friend in need? The person on the side of the road was no longer just another car trouble statistic; they were someone I cared about. And that completely changed my response.
Our main passage for Sunday is James 2:1-13. Verses 8 and 9 say:
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
This Sunday, for special music, the band will be singing a song by Brandon Heath called “Give Me Your Eyes.”
It’s not so much a worship song as it is a song with a meaning. The meaning can be summed up in the bridge:
I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well, I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way You’ve seen the people all along
How many times have we passed by people and never given a second thought to their situation or what is going on in their day? We may hold the door for them or let them in front of us in line in the name of politeness, but that is different than seeing them!
The chorus of this song is the prayer of the author to “See people like Jesus sees them”:
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see
What would happen if we prayed this prayer every morning “Dear God, help me to see people like you see them”? How many more people would we engage with the gospel message? How many more struggling people might we meet with the compassion and love of Christ?
As we sing in our opening hymn for this Sunday, we have a responsibility to “Take the news to every land.”
and we cannot do this alone. In our closing, we will sing:
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
I cannot, in my own power, meet people with the love of Christ. I need God’s presence in me as much as I need air in my lungs.
We are a means by which God brings the gospel to people. We are an avenue through which He reveals His love and commitment to people.
John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 Corinthians 13 is a plea to the church in Corinth to not boast in their gifts or accomplishments but to love others with the same love God has for us. A love that is not dependent upon the worth or value of the one receiving the love, but instead part of the character of the one who’s giving the love.
My challenge is to join me over the next week in praying this prayer every morning when you wake up: “God, help me to see people like you see them,” and then look for opportunities to step into what God has lined up for you that day.
May our eyes be open to see the needs of the people we pass throughout the day, and may we begin to see them as God sees them, rather than rushing past them. Instead let us love them as God loves them, because they are people of sacred value and worth, created and loved by God.
Adam