{"id":517,"date":"2021-10-20T18:40:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2021-10-20T18:40:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T18:40:30","slug":"what-do-you-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"What Do You See?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Do You See?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, there was a woman who had a really serious weight problem. She was an extremely nice caring woman. In spite of all her good characteristics, when most people thought of her, they immediately thought of her size. I was one of those.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One day some children between 6 and 8 were talking to me. One of them started telling me about this really nice woman who befriended them. The others joined in with enthusiastic descriptions of this lady trying to describe her so that I would know who they were talking about. Never once did any of them mention her size. I finally caught on to who they were talking about with some other clues.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was amazed that none of these children saw her as most of us did. Even more amazing was the fact that I did not see her as they did.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With this turmoil going on in our country recently I have been aware that many of us can see the same events, the same people, and yet we cannot agree on what we are seeing. Some see Demons at work where others see Divine intervention. I see things far differently than many of my friends, relatives even other believers. That really bothers me. However, who am I to judge them. I always keep telling myself, that I am human and I could be wrong (though not likely).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My attitude most of the time is that God sees things as I do. I know a lot of pastors, deacons, elders and committed Christians have gone on that premise for years and years even when they conflict with others who are also deeply committed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, God agrees with me on most issues of the day. Doesn\u2019t he?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was reading a book,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>The Exodus Mandate<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0by Brother Andrew. His writings always fascinate me and when I had the opportunity to download a free E-Book with him as a co-author I did so. It focuses on Moses’ life and his interactions with God.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 10 discusses God\u2019s dealings with the slaves in Egypt. This is before the Exodus. He makes Moses aware that he sees and knows their predicament.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Exodus 3:7 (HCSB)<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/b>7\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, \u201cI have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> 3:9<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>The Israelites\u2019 cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moses had seen this same situation. He had tried his own solution, killing one of the Egyptians. It had backfired on him and he had been found out. His response was run and hide. Run from Egypt and hide in the desert. Make a new life and start over. Forget what he could not change. Stop seeing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since I have trouble seeing life as many others do, is it possible that I see the world very differently from the way God sees it? How does God see the Muslims that live in my town? How does he see the situation and the people at the Border? How does he see the situation in Israel between the Jews and the Palestinians? How does he see the racial situation in the US? How does he see that aggravating neighbor? Probably not the way I do. Does he see what I see?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Many Believers live in places where they are persecuted for their faith. It is a day in and day out part of life. They are not allowed the same education, the same opportunity, the same housing, the same place in society that others are. Do I even think of them? Not much! I feel better if I put those things out of my mind and don\u2019t even think about their lives. Yep, run and hide.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Stop seeing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A better question for a follower of Jesus is, do we see what he sees? That is really the point. After all, if we are part of his Kingdom and describe ourselves as His followers, pray that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven and understand that we are His body in the\u00a0world at this time. Then\u00a0we should attempt to see things as he does. I suppose that is what some call a Christian World view.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Brother Andrew suggested a prayer for Followers of Jesus: He says God wants us to know\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>His concerns<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>, feel<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>His compassion,\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>adopt His priorities<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>. The starting point may be this prayer he suggests.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Lord, may I see what You see, hear what You hear, and feel what You feel.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When we do that, we will begin to have his concerns, feel his compassion and adopt his priorities.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Would our lives and our churches be different if we had his concerns, his compassion and his priorities?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Just a thought.\u00a0 Of course, you may see it differently.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Do You See? Once upon a time, there was a woman who had a really serious weight problem. She was an extremely nice caring woman. In spite of all her good characteristics, when most people thought of her, they immediately thought of her size. I was one of those. One day some children between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}