Cannot See As God Sees

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 

                                                                                     1 Sam 16:7 NIV

I am color blind. Both of my sons inherited that gene from me, as well. When my oldest son was first learning his colors he had a rough time of it. He did great in Math and reading; but, the color chart was something else. It did not help that it was me who was also unable to clearly discern colors who was helping him learn.

When my youngest son came home and showed the family his new "dark green" car he found out that it was purple. That misperception was kind of understandable as it was speckled paint that changed a bit when the sun shone on it. John is a photographer. It amazes me that one who is color challenged can produce such awesome work. He also works at for an electrical company and does various kinds of wiring and running cable jobs at which he really needs to be able to discern the various colored wires clearly. Recently, he received a pair of glasses for color blind people to help him at work. I tried them on. Wow! They work! I could see the colors around me much more vividly.

We all see things from slightly different perspectives. Our eyes do not see exactly the same things as others do. Sometimes the difference in our perceptions is totally physiological. It may be genetic or a health issue. Other times it might have more to do with our environment and the impact our experiences have had on our perspective of life and of people and even of God. 

Neither are any of us truly capable of seeing as God sees. We have a tendency to see only what is visible; the outward appearance. But, God sees right through the visible to know who we really are. His vision is not limited to those things that are seen; but, the things that are unseen, as well.

What we see with our eyes we often accept as the only truth for us. Yes, we judge others by what our eyes see. We fail to see that there is more to them than the outward appearance. What we see with our eyes often puts the brakes on so that we cannot go any further to see the real person. We refuse to go further to see and to know the heart.

Samuel was to anoint the new king of Israel. He saw Jesse's son, Eliab, an outstanding man in appearance and thought for sure this would be God's next choice for king. But, it was not. God chose the youngest son of Jesse, a mere shepherd boy. 

Our vision is not perfect only God can see all things perfectly. May God help us to see past the seen to those things which we cannot see so that we might learn to not judge as quickly as we have a tendency to do.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Bless The Work of Our Hands

"In all toil there is profit,

    but mere talk leads only to poverty."

Proverbs 14:23

"Are you a Finn?" That was a strange question to be asked by a supervisor. But, that is exactly what I was asked when I worked on a production line in a sewing factory many years ago. I had laughed and asked him how he could know that as I was living in North Carolina where there were very few people of Finnish descent. I only knew one other person in the factory that was. He said he guessed that because of my work ethic. At the time, the company I worked for was laying me off and paying me unemployment one or two days every week because the particular station I worked at would run out of work by Wednesday or Thursday. In the history of the factory no one had ever even made production at my station until that time.

I am still not sure how he would guess my ethnicity as I know a lot of people today of this same ethnic background who do not like to work and who will go out of their way to avoid it. I do not believe that ethnicity has much to do with our particular work ethics. Our work ethics are not necessarily dictated by our gene pool; but, has more to do with our environment.

I was taught at an early age that in order to live; in order to eat; in order to have shelter and heat, we must work. We must take care of responsibilities. We probably spend around one third of our lives working so we may as well do it well. We may as well throw ourselves into it and enjoy it.

Raising our sons, I would often make games out of household chores. We would work together so that the chores we had to complete would be more enjoyable for all. I tried to teach them that we should enjoy the work that we do since at least one third of our lives will consist of working at some job. And... even if we don't enjoy the work, we must try because we do have to eat.

There is profit in our toil. Sometimes, it is merely to survive and to survive well. At other times it is so that we can share fruitful time with others.

Whatever we do, let us do it well that the work of our hands might glorify our Father in heaven.

God's Peace - Pr. J

In Toil There Is Profit

"In all toil there is profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty."
                                      Proverbs 14:23

"Are you a Finn?" That was a strange question to be asked by a supervisor. But, that is exactly what I was asked years ago as I worked on a production line in a sewing factory. I had laughed and asked him how he could know that as I was living in North Carolina where there were very few people of Finnish descent. I knew of only one other. The supervisor was not of Finnish descent himself. He said he guessed that because of my work ethic. At the time, the company I worked for was laying me off and paying me unemployment one or two days every week because the particular station I worked at would run out of work by Wednesday or Thursday. In the history of the factory no one had ever made production at my station until that time.

I am still not sure how he would guess my ethnicity as I know a lot of people today of this same ethnic background who do not like to work and who will go out of their way to avoid it. I do not believe that ethnicity has much to do with our particular work ethics. Our work ethics are not necessarily dictated by our gene pool; but, has more to do with our environment.

I was taught at an early age that in order to live; in order to eat; in order to have shelter and heat, we must work. We must take care of responsibilities. We probably spend around one third of our entire lives working so we may as well do it well. We may as well throw ourselves into it and enjoy it.

Raising our sons, I would often make games out of household chores. We would work together so that the chores we had to complete would be more enjoyable for all. There is profit in our toil. Sometimes, it is merely to survive and to survive well. Other times it is so that we can share fruitful time with others.

Whatever we do, let us do it well that the work of our hands might glorify our Father in heaven.

God's Peace - Pr. J