5 Mar

What Are You Looking For?

posted by Lisa Huddleston

“Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest.” John 4:35

On Saturday, our church helped to sort donations at a local ministry that serves homeless women and their children. As I emptied a packed room that had a jumbled mixture of treasures and trash stacked from the floor to the ceiling, I commented that I couldn’t believe so many people had donated damaged or stained items. Miss Liz, the founder of the ministry, smiled wryly and responded that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Grunting my less-than-hearty affirmation, I just kept sorting, but her words stuck in my head, and I started to think about the deeper truth of her statement. We do tend to see whatever it is that we are looking for. Miss Liz is a perfect example of this truth herself. You see, she finds homeless people. She tells story after story of times when she was driving down a road and noticed a mother and her children huddled under a bridge or when she stopped for gas but instead ended up helping another young family who had no place to sleep that night. She has eyes that see what she is looking for, and she is looking for homeless people.

Her gift for seeing has caused me to wonder what it is that I am looking for. Right now, I am taking a class called Personal Evangelism so I have become much more aware of the need to witness to those who are without hope. I have also learned that my life has become very Christian-centric. Most of my friends are Christians. My immediate family members are Christians. I go from my Christian home to my Christian church and back again without seeing the many people all around me who are destined to perish without a Savior. Where are my opportunities to share the hope that is within me? To my shame, my eyes have been closed, and much of my part in gathering the harvest has been going undone.

The disciples were not very different. They were busy getting food for their little group of Christ-followers, and when they arrived at the well where Jesus sat, their eyes were closed to the encounter that had just taken place with the Samaritan woman. After all, she was just a woman and a Samaritan woman at that. She wasn’t even on their radar. They were amazed to see Jesus talking to her, but they brushed it aside and asked Him if He wanted something to eat. They didn’t even see what was right in front of them; but, Jesus opened their eyes. He told them to look around and see that the harvest was ready to be gathered in. Immediately, many Samaritans came to ask Jesus to stay with them longer, and they too believed and were saved. The harvest had begun.

Like the people of Jesus’ day, our hearts have grown callous, our ears are hard of hearing, and we have shut our eyes because to feel, to hear, and to see means we have to respond. We need Jesus to open our eyes to those around us who need Him just as badly as we do. “Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest.” Really … what are you looking for?

Sometimes the truth hurts, Lord. I am ashamed that I have not even seen the harvest of souls that is taking place all around me. Please, open the eyes of my heart and cause me to see people as you see them. Remind me what I should be looking for and use me to gather in your harvest. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Filed in: Evangelism, Ministry