Seeking the Lost, My Wife's Example

I’m figuring out my drink order, counting my change to see if I can add an extra shot of caffeine to my day. “Grande,” I mumble, barely looking up. “Make that a triple shot,” finishing the mental math. I plunk my change into his extended palm, mentally check my to do list and calculate the next three stops I am going to make. Then a still, small voice stops me. I love him. Surprised, I look around. Who, Lord? Him? I see the kid in front of me for the first time. A person. Made in God’s image. I almost missed him.

What keeps me from seeking the lost? At least half the time the answer is that I don’t even see them. I often don’t see the person in front of me as lost. I barely even see him as a person. I may see him as an interruption or an obstacle or a means to my ends for the day. I may see him as a “sinner” and label the sin without a second thought. I may even see him as my evangelism project. But person?

“Gospel eyes” is the expression my husband has coined to encapsulate the way we need to see people for the sake of the gospel mission. I find that so helpful. As I read the gospels, I am amazed at how Jesus saw people who would have been invisible to me. The widow of Nain would have been lost to me in the crowd of noisy mourners. My eye probably would have been drawn to the corpse of her son or distracted by the wailing women. The hemorrhaging woman would have completely escaped my attention in the rush to help the synagogue official’s son. Even Pilate, during his interrogation at the trial, would have been invisible to me in my fear of what he was about to do. Jesus, perfectly in tune with the Father, saw each of these in their created dignity and tragic fallenness.  Because he saw them, he didn’t miss the opportunity to seek them.

We are empty nesters so Mark has asked me to do some part time work in order to meet our community.  When you are new to a community and you know no one, you have to "think like a missionary" in order to meet locals.  In my case, I work at our local YMCA, teaching some classes, personal training, assisting in the weight room. There are lots of opportunities to meet people and for witness. We have already had a number of my clients or co-workers in our home. 

People who look to you for advice in physical health are often willing and ready to share their spiritual needs as well. But just because I am in the room, doesn’t mean I take advantage of all the opportunities. I don’t see people because I am disinterested. I miss opportunities because I am distracted. I even turn from open doors because I am dominated by fear of what others might think. In fact I fail to see and to seek more times than I would like to admit. How should I approach this failure? How can I ever begin to see as Christ did?

The gospel tells me that Christ died for my sinful failure to love others enough to see and seek them. The gospel also gives me the good news that Christ never once failed to seek and to save the lost. His righteousness in that area has been applied to my life. The gospel frees me from guilt over not sharing the gospel! The gospel fills me with gratitude so that others experience the overflow. The gospel is good news to me, even as I struggle to share the gospel with others. Through experiencing the gospel, I will receive gospel eyes.

Comments

[Mindy]

Thanks for posting this! God has been convicting me some time over my sinful pattern of conditional love. God once again faithfully met me by bringing fresh conviction and fresh faith to continue the battle to become more like Christ!

[Laura Little]

This was a very encouraging entry. I was cut to the heart to love my neighbors and the Lord even provided an opportunity for me to reach out. Thanks