Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
I just recently presided over the funeral service of one of my best friend’s aunt. I have known this family since 1978.
She was one of the neatest, happiest, most welcoming people I have ever met. When I was younger, most of my friends and their families called me Danny. When the funeral director called me forward he called me Rev. Danny. Boy did that take me back to my childhood! I met with the family and asked them to tell me something that will live on in them that they learned from their mom/aunt. They said that she never judged a book by its cover. It was like she was blind when she looked at people. Nothing on the outside mattered. All that she cared about was what was in the person’s heart.
I immediately went to 1 Samuel 16. In that text, Samuel is sent by God to go to Jesse and find which one of Jesse’s sons is to be anointed king. Jesse parades all of his biggest, most muscle bound, beautifully handsome sons past Samuel. God says NO to each one of the sons that Jesse has presented. Jesse and Samuel cannot understand why none of these strapping young men are to be anointed king. Then in verse 7 it says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven’t selected him. God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is beautiful to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart.’”
That truly is a lost art in the world today. The ability to see the whole world as the Lord sees it is a gift. God sees all of us as simply one of his children. Nothing else matters, at all. God created us. God knows us and knows us from our hearts. God knows us from the inside out and not the outside in. This could be a very refreshing world to live in if we were truly able to see the world as God sees it. Our world has placed all kinds of filters on our eyes with which to see the world and the people around us. We have the ability to remove those filters. We have the ability to choose not to see the world through a lens that casts out, separates, tears apart, or degrades. I am not saying it is easy, but it can be done. Even Samuel and Jesse had filters on their eyes as to what the king “should” look like. God saw things differently.
Ultimately, Jesse had to send for his last remaining son, David, who was off tending his father’s sheep. His father did not even think he was worthy of being there. David was the one because God’s eyes looked right past the muscles, the height, the handsome features, and looked right into his heart. I need to get better at removing the filters that I have allowed the world to place over my eyes.
May we all strive just a little bit more each day to remove the filters of the world in order to see it as God sees it. I pray for the filters to fall from our eyes like the scales that fell from the eyes of Saul in order to restore his sight just before he was baptized. (Acts 9:18)
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Dan