Posted by Dyanner Brown on January 11, 2009 at 1:30am
The Eyes Have ItDyanner Brown~ Talitha Cumi Inspireswww.talithacumiinspirestheworld.ning.com
I was listening to my one of my favorite songs, “Give me your eyes”, by Christian Song Artist, Brandon Heath and while I listened to the lyrics I was moved! In fact, I was so moved by the lyrics I heard, that I began writing this conversation. Before I begin, allow me to share with you just a few words of the lyrics that moved me so much:
Looked down from my broken sky.Tree top by the city lights.My world from a mile high.Best seat in the house tonight.
Touched down on the cold black tar.Hold on for the sudden star.
Breathe in the familiar shock of confusion and caos.
All those people, going somewhere.Why have I never cared?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.
Give your arms for the broken hearted.The ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgottenGive me your eyes so I can see, Yeah.
Now that I have shared some of those words.. Did you know that the eyes have it? Its true, our eyes decide what is good and what is bad.
We look at things, people and items and make decisions and choices and even judgments by what we see. The question is what are we seeing and what are we deciding when we see whatever it or whom it is that we see? Allow me to ask; Have you ever looked at someone and thought the wrong thing, made a hasty judgement; made a comment; whether good or bad?
Oh… Come on.. Sure you have!! I know that I certainly have. Oh, I know, we are suppose to be Christians and good people, and yet we sometimes judge others by what we see.
When we see a woman dressed in something that we think is provocative, do we assume that she is attempting to entice someone, automatically; or do we think that she is just confident and assured enough to wear whatever she wants, regardless of what others think. When we see a man not dressed in a business suit, shirt and tie or who may be dressed in jeans and a tee, to be someone who is worthless and not well to do, or do we consider that he may be just dressed down for a quiet leisurely, weekend in the park.
Perception is something! We most often are ready to except something negative about a person, instead of taking the time to believe in some consideration that is positive about a person. Why is this? I am glad you asked… (laughing).
Its simple, beloved; we are a flawed race. When I say race, I am referring to the only race that I believe that there truly is and that’s the human race. All these various tones and shades of skin are just the beautiful cosmetics that God chose for our one true race to have, to reveal our individuality and our giftings that go with our God given purposes. But.. that’s a different conversation, that we can discuss at a later time..
Gotcha thinking though, right? Yeah, I know. But, nevertheless, back to the topic at hand; our perceptions. As members of the human race, we have flawed perception, vision and insight. We more often than not, are looking out of dirty lenses at the rest of the world, thinking about how dirty, ugly, bad, horrible and terrible everything and everyone is. We so easily take the stance that it is everyone else, who is in great need of change. We very seldom take the time to consider the concept that it is we, who need this change that we are so often discussing. In other words, we need to clean our lenses from time to time! Our perceptions are not at all what they should be. Don’t believe it?
Consider for a moment, what the media does on a daily basis, or the paparazzi. Does the media, which is a form of perception and views from others, about the world; automatically spin a positive story before a negative one? Why are there so many tabloid stories? If we see a young woman with all of her cut off, and she is bald, what do we automatically think? Do we think that she is undergoing cancer treatments, is a part of a cult or just making a fashion statement? Perhaps its none of the above. Perhaps she just likes having a low maintenance hair style. No muss, no fuss. The thing is, we may never know the motives or reasons for why individuals do what they do, make the choices they make or wear their hair the way they wear their hair. We may never know unless we actually take the time to reach out to people.
REaching out to others takes the love of God, which is the only powerful factor that can cause us to do things selflessly. In fact, it is our love or lack of love for ourselves that often hinders us from reaching out to others or loving them. Let alone, viewing them, as Jesus would view them. Many of us have a difficult time viewing ourselves as Jesus does. I am certain, that if there was a way to do an anonymous poll, asking those involved, if they really truly loved who themselves, many would find a reasoning for not loving themselves. If I or anyone did love ourselves, we could not love someone else. The world is filled with individuals who do not love themselves, which means, they do not have the ability to truly love someone else. This is indicated by the high rates of crime, suicides, homicides, adultery, thefts.. etc..Luke 10:27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart [emotions, feelings, thoughts, opinions, views, vision, perception], and with all thy soul [mind, will, intellect] ,and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and [love] thy neighbour as thyself.
Jesus' perception and vision was blind when it came to the flaws or short comings of others. Jesus never made assumptions. He just went to the heart of the needs of an individual and ministered to them according to that need. His vision is just like a song I heard a long time ago, “HE looked beyond my faults and saw my needs.” What if every person in the world did this; looking beyond the faults of others to meet their needs. What if we all practiced this Jesus that we preach about! What if we truly ignored the automatic human frailties within us all, decided to cleanse our lenses of perception within our own minds, and then went out into the world to meet the needs of others. What a world this would be!!!!!
If we are the body of Christ; perhaps we need to begin with the eyes of Jesus. It’s the Eyes that have the biggest impact on others. Through the eyes, our hearts are affected and determine what we will become for others. We can either be judge and jury with the sentence we give out, returning back to us, or we can be that listening ear, that catalyst of kindness, that inspiring friend or just a caring stranger.
Let us be encouraged from this day and moving forward, to take the time to cleanse the lens of our perceptions before making judgments and show the love of Christ to others. We can not show the love of Christ if our hearts have been negatively affected by what our eyes, and our peceptions have determined. This misperception occurs when we take our focus off of Jesus. WE lose focus by daily obligations, frustrations, agitations and distractions. The enemy enjoys plaguing and bombarding with mondane busy-ness. Of course, in today's society, it is often misconstude as business.
We have to remember to keep the main thing the main thing so that we do not become distracted from Christ and our true purpose of bringing glory to God and bringing the kingdom of God to the world. Our main thing, beloved is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. As long as we have our eyes fixed on Jesus, the distractions have no chance of getting in. Through keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we also gain the greatest perspective we could ever have of the world and others in the world. We begin to see through His eyes. You see, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, through His word. The word of God cleanses and washes us. This washing of the word renews our minds as well as cleanses our "lenses, our veiws, our perceptions and all that we see".Romans 12:2And be not [do not be] conformed to [have the same perception, views, mindsets, eyes of] this world: but be ye transformed [changed, made over, purified, made greater, made better] by the renewing [changing, cleansing, restoring, rejuevenation, expanding, betterment, prospering, progressing] of your mind[soul, intellect, thoughts, opinions, views, sight, vision, eyes], that ye may prove[show, reveal, display, portray] what is that good [right, righteous, blessed, gracious, merciful, loving], and acceptable, and perfect, will[mind, thoughts, considerations, opinions, views, vision, sight, eyes] of God.
How we think, percieve, invision and see God, the world and others, as well as ourselves, is cleansed through the word of God. We begin to abide in Jesus and He abides inside of us through our meditation and study of the word of God. Its through Jesus Christ, we can do all things, including see others through the most perfect lense there could ever be.. the love and wod of Jesus Christ!Ephesians 5:25b-26... Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church, those who believe on Him] with the washing of water by the word,
Decide today, beloved, to have the eyes of God and be the eyes of Jesus. Since this messagegoes to me first, allow me to be the first to say… I am making a decision to not judge others, by my own faulty perceptions, or dirty lenses. I choose to see others through the eyes of Jesus. I ask you Lord to give me your eyes each and every moment. Help me to see others as you do and to love them as you do to. Help me to be your eyes in the earth, as you have purposed for me to be, that I may lead someone to you, through your vision and your love.
After all, beloved, we all need an encouraging word from time to time. Just remember, whatever we sow, that’s what we will reap. When we sow love and positivity, we will reap the harvest of that love. Try it.. WE truly can not beat God giving. Everytime I have inspired the life of someone else, God has always, inspired me in some way. I am truly blessed to be a blessing and that’s when I realize that there is something so much more real to living for Christ that idle words and phrases.
I pray that you are blessed beyond measure today and always as you begin to see the world and those around you with a set of brand new eyes. What great and wonderful thing will God cause you to see? I am certain it will match His word..1 Corinthians 2:9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
What an amazing view that will be, when we all can see with the eyes of Jesus. We would begin to have the life, and life more abundantly that Christ came to give us, to the full until it overflows and overflows into the lives of others; creating an endlows flow of the love of Jesus Christ in the world. Perhaps listening to Brandon Heath's, "Give me Your Eyes", will help you begin to see with the eyes of Jesus. How else can we serve the Lord, except we operate as the body of Christ, seeing with His eyes first!Agape Always beloved of God!Be inspired, Be edified. Be encouraged. Be uplifted today and always to live life and life more abundantly, to the full, until it overflows as you aspire and arise to be more than you ever imagined that you could ever be through Christ Jesus.Dyanner Brown~ Talitha Cumi Inspireswww.talithacumiinspirestheworld.ning.com
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