Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

When you look out and see people each and every day—the ones you work with, the ones you encounter in the stores, restaurants, and various places you go—what do you see when you see all the people who you encounter? Do you see people through God’s eyes? Do you see people who were created by Him that are lost? Do you see people who God loves and wants to have a relationship with? Do you see people who are looking for answers yet may be too stubborn to admit it or listen to the very truth that would save them? Do you see people who might hate God, but for all the wrong reasons? How different life would be if each and every day we looked at people through God’s eyes as someone He wants to reach, that Jesus died for. If we lived like that, it would literally transform our life.

1 Cor. 8:6-7 “…there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this…”

To become indifferent about seeing people through God’s eyes takes effort. It takes a pushing away or burying a heart of compassion that the Lord put in you the day you gave your life to Him. Maybe you buried it because you didn’t know what to do with it. Maybe you don’t know how to share Jesus with people. Maybe you lacked the courage to share Jesus with others when opportunities arose. Maybe you didn’t lack courage but you’ve been rejected so many times when trying to share His love that the hurt screamed don’t do this any more and so you didn’t. But if you love Jesus, I can assure you that within you is the God-given ability to look at people though His eyes.

2 Cor. 5:18-21 (NLT) “All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to Himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Seeing people through God’s eyes and then feeling the burden that they need Jesus can feel overwhelming, but it shouldn’t.  Jesus carried the burden and sins of the world. We can’t. We can’t carry the weight of every person, but that shouldn’t make us indifferent. God has put us here to be an influence for Jesus to a sick and dying world!

There is a verse from the Message translation Bible that has become the guideline for my life that lifts this and all burdens of obligation from my shoulders, yet does not lead me to becoming indifferent. It’s from 2 Corinthians 8:10 (MSG) “…Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t…”

I love those words, “Do what you can, not what you can’t.” I am only too aware of what I can’t do, yet I can always do something. Sharing the love of Jesus with others is a process. The Apostle Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 3:6 that helping people come to know Christ is most often a process, like gardening or farming. He said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” It can be a process which means it happens in stages over time. People usually do come to Jesus in stages. As different people communicate Jesus and pray for them, the light slowly comes on and they begin to search for truth. Each of us can be one link in that process.

“Do what you can, not what you can’t.” I realize it takes time and I purposely remember that so that as I look at people through Jesus’ eyes, I will remember to do what I can and not what I can’t. If I do, then I remember that I can be a light to the grocery clerk I see each week. I can let him see the love of Jesus through me. I can remember the Apostle Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 3:2 that we are a written letter from God that people read every time they see us! Just our presence represents Jesus to them! I can touch others with kind words, encouragement, and acts of kindness as opportunities present themself. I can invite people to church. I can give them a Bible, telling them how it transformed my entire life. I can share what God has done for me when identifying with them over their present crisis. I can pray for them regarding the crisis they are facing right there on the spot, or if more appropriate, letting them know I will sincerely pray for them. There are many can do’s that I can do. If I look at people through God’s eyes, then I will be more sensitive to those can do’s moments. They will become more frequent and I will be planting or watering the seed of the love of Jesus in them. If I do while remembering that it is God that brings the increase, then I won’t take on the burden of their salvation that only Jesus can carry. That is not my burden.

I don’t have to become indifferent to protect myself from the guilt of not sharing the complete message of Jesus with every person in life. I can look at people through God’s eyes and care and “Do what I can, not what I can’t.”  In this way, I will be fulfilling God’s royal law of love! I will do my part, others will do their part, and God will bring the increase!

If you know Jesus and they don’t, you have something they need! You can make a difference!

1 Cor. 8:6-7 “…there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this…”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt 

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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