Look Deeper–See the Real Person

March 12, 2018 (Monday)
Someone once told me about a pair of special eyeglasses. When one wears these unique fictitious spectacles, he sees signs stuck on people. Without the glasses, some folks are seen as rude and self-serving, but with the glasses, they are seen as people in pain. The signs on them change, saying they are ill, or working two jobs trying to make ends meet while trying to raise children, or are struggling with life in some other way.
Every day we meet people who have problems of their own. They may never speak of their personal anguish or difficulties, but you can count on the fact that they have them. I recall what I heard a young lady say a long time ago. Her remarks followed mine in a church discussion group. In response to a question, I had said something about the difficult situation I was in at the moment. She said to the group as an observation for all the young adults in the room, “You know, everybody’s having a hard time.” For some reason, her remarks stuck in my mind. I’ve remembered them often. What she said was, and is, very true.
One day when Jesus was teaching the multitudes on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, the day wore on and he grew tired. He motioned to his disciples, and said, “Let’s get in the boat and sail to the other side.” They needed rest and a little solitude. When they got to the other side, however, they saw that the people had run around the small sea and were waiting for them. What did Jesus do? Did he say, “Whoa, turn around and we’ll go somewhere else?” No, “when he saw the crowd, he had compassion on them, for they were as sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:30ff). Jesus saw in that crowd what his disciples failed to see.
Jesus healed a blind man one day, and the man was healed in increments, for at first he said, “I see men as walking trees.” As Jesus continued to work with him, he began to see people clearly. Jesus has healed our spiritual blindness, but perhaps we need to be touched by Him so that we see others more clearly. We need to look deeper and see the real person. He or she could be having a hard time.
I close with an appeal to people to be kind and gentle, paraphrasing a sentence from a recent blog: So open your eyes, people, open and see, not a grumpy old person; look closer … see ME!!”