8/12/11

I see you, but how do you see me?

Caricatures are interesting since they are not meant to be an exact copy of the person, but merely represent someone as the artist sees them.  Usually, one or more aspects of the person are emphasized, while others are reduced or ignored.  Notice the glasses and the teeth are bigger and the body is smaller.  I wonder what the artist is REALLY trying to say about this person.  Only thing that comes to mind is NERD, but please don't hold me to that one.  What do we really know about others, anyway?  It takes years to really get to know someone and even then you can't be absolutely sure what they are like.  But God knows; HE goes beyond the outward appearance and looks right into the heart.  HE KNOWS YOU!!!  Take this episode from the book of John for example.

John 4:3-29 (WEB)
3) he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4) He needed to pass through Samaria.
5) So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
6) Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7) A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8) For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9) The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11) The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
12) Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?”
13) Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15) The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16) Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17) The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’
18) for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
19) The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20) Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21) Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.
22) You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23) But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.
24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25) The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes,” (he who is called Christ). “When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26) Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”
27) At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
28) So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29) “Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”

The next time you meet someone who seems socially unacceptable, consider this passage.  Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan (and Jews normally didn't do this) who just also happened to be female (once again, males didn't normally do this in private).  He knows her and everything about her.  Her interest is aroused and she tries to persuade others as well.  Humm, I wonder why?  I think its because she knew Jesus cared about her and she could see he was someone very, very special.  What a blessing it is for someone to really know you and like you anyway!!! Jesus didn't have a distorted view of her and because of this, HE could lead her towards a proper relationship with God.  Good example, good practice and a wonderful way to think.  Know people and do good to them anyway; can you imagine what the world would be like if we actually did this?  Not a bad idea!!! Can't wait for it to happen...