Eyes

A few years ago I had lasik eye surgery. I had watched kids in my home and saved for the better part of a year to earn enough money to pay for it. I had worn glasses or contacts since third or fourth grade, and my eyes had deteriorated for all those years, getting worse and worse the older I got. They got so near-sighted that I could not even read a book unless it was about 5 inches from my face. The day I went to see if I was a candidate for the surgery, the technician looked at my test results and uttered a shocked - "Oh!"

"Oh!?" I repeated. "What do you mean, 'Oh'?"

"Let's just say I know why you're here," she replied. Yeah - my eyes were that bad!

I was so excited the day I went into the clinic - I was basically going to get new eyes. It was over in 10 minutes or less and after the doctor was finished, he asked me to look at the clock across the room that I had tried to read before he had started. I could read it!! I could even see the second hand!!

The entire following week I saw the world around me differently - so much better than I had seen it even with glasses or contacts. I saw leaves - yes, individual leaves on the trees. I saw clouds in the sky - not just blurry white blobs. I even saw people's faces differently - I could read their expressions better than ever before, my eyes saw even their emotions and feelings.

There is a song by Brandon Heath that goes:
"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.
. . . All those people goin' somewhere,
Why have I never cared?"

I've made this my prayer this week. I want to see afresh. I want to see people like Jesus does. Who is hurting? Who needs me to love them? Who needs to hear the Good News? Why are they broken, stressed, alone . . . ? If we could see our world the way Jesus does, what would we see? And if we did actually look with His eyes, would it change the way we lived?

Dare to pray this with me over the course of the next few weeks and tell me what happens in your life . . . What would be different in your Life Group if you prayed this before you met? . . . How would Crossroads Church be different if everyone prayed this?

“Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at the same time it loves to complain and not really change. Because, if it does change, then it won't have anything to complain about.” – Tori Amos (Musical artist; most likely NOT a follower of Christ, but very insightful, regardless)

So, we say we're open to change, but maybe we're fooling ourselves. Maybe all we're really open to is complaining. Unfortunately, the two are mutually exclusive. You can either be a changer, or a complainer, but rarely, if ever, will you be both. We've been talking about Innovate, and Alter Your World, and "doing church in new ways that have never been done before", and breaking out of the box, but this quote really challenged me to a new dimension of change.

Does my idea of change go beyond talking about what needs to change, and actually move into the realm of working toward the change? Are we open to face the hard work that is ALWAYS associated with change? Change is uncomfortable. It stretches me. It pushes me. It challenges the way I've always thought of things.

Moses was an agent of change. His was one of the hardest tasks in all of the Bible: lead over 1 million people to passionately worship God and move into the land and life He had promised generations before. Ha. Easier said than done. You can bet the Israelites did not like change. They said repeatedly that they would rather go back to slavery than make the changes God asked of them. They were not changers, they were expert complainers. All but two men out of that entire generation Moses was leading out of Egypt lacked the gusto for change.

New Wineskins. Innovate. Alter Your World. Spread the Good News of His Grace. Love People into His Kingdom.

These are no easy tasks. These are monumental, audacious goals. This kind of change will take stretching, sacrifice, and stronghold suicide. Am I ready for this? Are you?

As Life Group Leaders, you have taken on the challenge to lead people closer to Jesus in the context of Doing Life Together. That kind of leadership takes a pioneer. You'll do things differently than you may have in the past. You'll reach into people's lives who are at the opposite personality spectrum as yourself. You'll find ways of bringing up matters of faith that never occurred to you before. Are you ready for that kind of change? If not, how do you think God might need to prepare you or stretch you?

Leave a comment here - we'd all benefit from what God is showing you.