The last few months the Lord has been speaking to me about how he sees us and others and how we see Him and others. God gives us His Holy Spirit and His word to understand Him but I know we all struggle with this and this is a process. In God’s Word, I Corinthians 13:12, ‘Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.’ 1 John 3:2 states, ‘Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.’
Then the Lord, like he always does, just keep putting this in front of me in different ways. His Word, books, devotionals, studies, and people speaking. It all started with a devotional I received a few months ago I received from The Berean. It was based on the verse Matthew 13:45-46, ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.’ The popular teaching of this verse is often looked at as Jesus is the pearl of great price, I’m seeking him with all my strength and giving up all that I have for to follow him and have a relationship with him. It’s not that we shouldn’t do all of these, there are a lot of scriptures that say we should. But the devotional talked about the verse as Jesus being the merchant and seeking us and we are the fine choice pearl or pearls. The Lord kept putting the verse and concept in front of me from other well known people like J. Vernon McGee and others. Sure enough I was reading books and commentaries by McGee and in my reading ran into the scripture explained the same as the devotional. Luke 19:10 states, ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.’ God gave his only begotten son Jesus to die for us the lost and he sees us as the choice pearls.
Regardless of which way you interpret the verse, I started a long process of thinking about how God sees us in a deeper way than before. God just kept putting the concept in front of me. We all know He does the seeking, not us and we have nothing to buy or purchase our salvation with. It is a gift from God and his grace through the giving and sacrifice of his son Jesus because he loves us. Even though we are not worthy and full of sin he sees us like the very valuable choice pearl and comes after us. And how he does this is through Jesus, like the merchant seeking fine pearls. In Ephesians 2:8-9 it says, ‘God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.’ Ephesians 1:4 states, ‘Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.’ Again in Ephesians 2:10, ‘For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.’ We are saved by his grace through Jesus and because of Jesus He sees us holy and blameless.’ It also says we are His masterpiece or workmanship. In the process of growing and God shaping and molding us through refining, trials and struggles to become more like Jesus, it is how He sees us that matters. He loves us always and through Jesus sees us holy and blameless and we never lose our value in how God sees us because of Jesus.
Another point in the devotional was how a pearl is made. When a clam is injured, it is through a process the awesome valuable pearl is made. Just like us, we are damaged by sin but through Jesus, God in His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, patience and power helps us become a new creation for His purpose and glory. From when we are saved to be with Him to know His heart and to see through His eyes, will make a big difference in how we love, relate to others and understand them. II Corinthians 5:16-17, ‘So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ For me, it is important to understand how god sees people and how valuable they are to Him. He is the Vine dresser and He is in a long process of doing a great work in them for his purpose and glory. Am I going to yield to the Holy Spirit focus on God and try to understand God’s heart and allow Him to give me the ability to see people through His eyes.
