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?