Through His Eyes...

June 22, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'” Matthew 25: 31-45.

For so long, when something would go wrong in my life, I was told the same thing, “pray”. Inside of myself I want everything bad to end. I want to live happily with no additional confusion added.

Now I am realizing that a life without struggle was never in the cards for me. Not only for me, but it wasn’t in the cards for anyone else either. That is difficult to understand when we are trapped within ourselves. The picture becomes clearer when we step outside.

I forgot to concentrate on the person I was to “pray” to: God. I am praying about something I consider life-altering. What does He think about what I am saying? I am upset about a co-worker, a bill, a person in traffic. I am upset about a health condition, a fight with a family member, or an unruly child. This is what I see.

What does God see? The entire world, and everything in it. Now there is a thought. I could comprehend it if I had seen the entire world myself and even more if I could see every inch of it at every single second, but I cannot. However, now I am aware that He can.

I am taught and firmly believe that He is a God who is the author of love and justice and neither concept exists apart from Him. I am taught that He is so loving that He hurts when we hurt, and does everything He can to make sure we reach our every potential possible.

In light of my beliefs I turn to think of what He must feel seeing all He does. The Creator of the Universe who loved us so much that He allowed His own Son to die to save us is watching every thing we do. And even more, He is watching every thing that we are not doing.

Growing up as a child deeply engrained in the religious culture of the South, I sought His guidance my entire life. When I believed something would benefit me, I did not bother to listen to His instruction. I spent that entire time looking within and became a person without. When I finally agreed to listen and follow His guidance I had to answer for every time I said “no”, not because He is angry, but because He loves us so much that His desire is to make sure we do not make the same mistakes over and over.

Ironically, as hard as I am on myself, I realize I am a product of my culture. Instant gratification, infomercials full of quick fixes, batteries in everything so we do not have to get up and press buttons on a television, and all about me, me and me.

Now that my eyes are open to what He is seeing, I am sad at the thought of it. Christians believe they have a purpose and that purpose is defined by God. Because Christianity is meant to be a selfless and “help those who cannot help themselves” religion, the purpose will inevitably be to benefit others even at the expense of ourselves. If that was our goal, I am sad to say we are failing miserably.

But God keeps sticking it out, waiting on the Body of Christ, us as believers, to bring the new temple of the Holy Spirit to others. In Old Testament times, God’s Spirit dwelled in the “Holy of Holies” in the Temple in Jerusalem. After Christ’s death and resurrection, His Spirit dwells inside of us as Christians. This is why you will frequently hear that “our body is the temple”. The Holy Spirit is within us, so where do we take Him? Do we take Him to Africa or nations in the Caribbean such as Haiti to help feed starving children or do we take Him to shopping malls to make sure we get the latest toy? Do we take Him to speak the truth about Christ, as we were told in John He would speak through us, or do we take Him to listen to us talk about ourselves? Do we show Him how much money we can give to a charity to help others or do we show Him how many quick fix gadgets we can buy for our own impatience?

As members of the Body of Christ whose job it is to exemplify the dwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, I am afraid of what we have become. Anyone familiar with the Old Testament is aware of what God thinks and will do to a country that turns their back upon Him. It is not even written as complex as one might think. Ask yourself how many times taking care of the poor and needy are mentioned in the Bible. Over and over that is what is asked of us, and the command, if neglected, we will have to answer for.

We are saved by grace, and not by works. You did nothing to earn your salvation and your forgiveness. Does that mean you should not give anything in return? Hardly. What happens if you love someone and give them your all unconditionally and they continue to hurt you over and over. What do you do? You will never lose God’s love no matter what you do wrong, but if you feel ashamed of what we have been failing to do you should. We beg for unconditional love and we get it without us having to do a thing, and what do we do in return? Read the scripture above and ask yourself if we will not be held accountable for what we have failed to do.

The One who gave us that love and asked nothing of us in return is counting on us to help take care of the rest of His children. Are you anymore important in His eyes than a child in Africa who is starving? Absolutely not.

Society somehow excuses their own failure to pay attention to others needs by saying that they are blessed to live in a country such as America. Where do you think that blessing you brag about came from? "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” John 19:10-11.

Do you think that blessing is permanent no matter what you do? Make sure to pay attention to God’s thoughts on Israel in the Old Testament before you make the decision. " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Ezekiel 16:49-50.

Not to scare everyone to death, but at a time when North Korea is threatening a missile attack, we should be paying attention. What is even more devastating is the fact that we only pay attention when it somehow benefits us. Look at the biggest Christian movements in U.S. History. Were they after a period of economic prosperity or were they after periods such as the Great Depression? You do the math.

Nonetheless, a bad economic or nationwide event gives us the opportunity to join together to help others. Events such as September 11th show the willingness and good in people to put their lives on the line for others. You do not need such an event to notice the good in people though. Look at your law enforcement officers and soldiers on the front lines risking their lives for you every day of the year. No matter what your opinions on war or authority are there is one fact that remains. Someone, somewhere is willing to take a bullet and devastate their family for you at any given moment. Whether you believe in the cause or not, they still go forward. Chances are that you probably do not know who they are.

For all what I like to call “conclusionists” out there I am in no way saying that our country will be attacked unless we help starving people. What I am saying is that God has shown that He is willing to lift a hand of protection from a nation that turns their back on His principles. Take Israel and Babylon for example. That does not mean He sends someone to attack us, but if someone does who will you turn to? You spent the past few decades showing Him you did not care about Him or His children.

Yes, we received a blessing by our ability to live in such a wonderful and beautiful country. You can also bless your teenage daughter with the right to use your Porsche for the weekend, but if you find out she got three speeding tickets in it and is at risk for a wreck will you tell her to forget it and leave the car in the garage from now on? If you can’t use it right, you don’t get to keep that privilege.

If the electricity goes out in your house remember there are people who do not even know what it is like to have electricity and even more, that have never had a home. When you complain about traffic remember there are people who will never be in a vehicle. When you complain about crowded shopping malls and how you spent $50 on a shirt, remember there are people who do not own a shirt to their name, and could care less while they are digging in dumpsters to eat.

While I am praying now I think about what all God does see. More importantly, as we all beg for patience to come through a life event, I think about the fact that as a perfect and loving God, He is not even impatient with us even though He watches us sit by and allow the things to happen that we do.

Eventually, those bad things will come back on us. The Bible shows us as much, and whether you believe in the Bible or not, History is doomed to repeat itself.

I can say this much. When something bad happens to me I know who to pray to. Meanwhile, there are people all over the world who have never been told who to pray to through their suffering, nowhere to go for the hope that prayer gives us. Many are starving, throwing babies with AIDS in dumpsters whose mothers died in childbirth, digging in dumpsters for food, selling five year old girls and boys into sex slavery where they will have to sleep with numerous people for money, going to work at five years old and dragging water back to their family who does not live in a house and the water is filled with feces and urine but they have to drink it anyway, and dying from hunger every 16 seconds.

Is that ugly to you? Just because we do not want to listen to it or take the time to act on it does not mean it goes away. It is still happening every second of every day. As one of the most prosperous nations in the world who has been so blessed I would think we would want others to feel that blessing.

It should be enough to see their faces and know their suffering, but it is not. We will take a bad event and then decide we need to help. If that is what it takes, and that is what will make us act then that is exactly what will happen because good will always triumph over evil.

Today I complained that electricity bills are so high they are equal to or surpassing mortgage payments. Tonight I am praising God that I have the opportunity to complain about such. There are people who will never know either.

And God is watching…