Let the eyes have it!

There is a thought that came to me this morning: maybe the Church lives in a culture of “little” because it will not acknowledge the abundance we have all around us. And we don’t acknowledge what we have got because we are told we can have it all but we don’t have it all yet. Therefore we think that we are living these impoverished lives, believing that we don’t have it all and need to pursue it. Yet we live surrounded by all this “stuff”.

Have we actually stopped lately to open our eyes to see what we do have? In conversations recently, a number of times people have acknowledge that they do not know who Jesus is or what he is about. They haven’t seen him. I find that somewhat concerning since we are the church that is named after the apostle who took people, starting with his own brother, to see Jesus. Andrew did not hand out books or tracts, he did not preach a sermon nor did he ask them if they had an appointment. What did he do? He took them to see Jesus. NO programs. NO forms. NO screenings or background checks. No requirements of tithes, offerings or gifts. He took them to see Jesus.

The great thing is that when they get to Jesus, he sees them too. He sees people for whom and what they are. Christ sees and understands the situation of each and is prepared to reach out and bring both life and death to a halt. Jesus reaches out to transform the life of this world into the life of the kingdom. He reaches out to make the blind see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the mute to sing, the dead to rise and the poor to be rich.

Christ seeks to save that which is lost: us. He seeks to bring healing and restoration to that which has grown old and has fallen down so that all things and all people will be made new and upright and brought to their perfect in him on his day at the end of all things. It is why he went to the cross and through the grave: that we might live for him and in him. God bodily raised Christ from the dead so that we might live and be with God forever – body and soul.  Every eye shall see the salvation of our God.

So let us look around with open eyes and see what God is doing and let the eyes have it!

Jason+