Most of us have a wish list of things we would like to have, places we would like to go and things we would like to do. Every time we turn our our televisions or our computers we get bombarded with new ideas to add to the list. The world around us wants us to have more stuff, to do new things and go to different places. It’s good for the world’s economy.
With this constant bombardment of potential wants, our wish list can easily turn into a life plan. The things we want become the things we need. The places we’d like to go become the places we must go. And, little bit by little bit, our wishes take over our lives.
John (Jesus’ beloved disciple) wrote a letter to the followers of Jesus scattered across the Greek speaking world. In it he did his best to express the essence of Jesus’ message. No surprise - it is all about love. John reminds us that loving people needs to be a higher priority to loving the things that the world has on offer.
Imagine going about your daily business wearing a pair of glasses that only showed you people, and not things. Your view of the world would be very different. None of the stuff, or fashion, or style would show up - just the people. Then imagine a further feature to these remarkable glasses, so that people’s primary needs were highlighted. You would see the loneliness of the lonely person, the hunger of the hungry person, the sadness of the grieving person and the fear of the scared person. Imagine that view. You would go about your business with your attention continually drawn to the things you can do to be practically useful to the people around you.
This is how Jesus looked at the world around him - indifferent to wealth or status, yet keenly alert to people’s needs.
Sadly, such God Goggles are not available on the internet. Instead we need to develop godly vision by going about our lives with hearts that are open to God and to the people we meet.
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