Sermon Central
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What Does Your Eye See
Contributed by Sharon Stonestreet on Dec 15, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: The choices we make come from our perspective, to make right choices we must look at things from God’s perspective!
This may seem like a confusing scripture but I think it is extremely important. I don’t believe that this is talking about our physical eyes notice it says “eye” not eyes.
And in verse 35 it says take heed or watch out that the light that is in you is not darkness. This is talking about our perspective or how we see or understand things. Pro.23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” think- that is our understanding, how do we understand or conceive a situation that’s how you will react. Many times the same circumstances will cause various reactions by different people-why? Because of the way each person perceives or understands the situation. One day, the father of a very wealthy family sent his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. The son spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
Upon the son’s return, the father asked, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy’s father was speechless: Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."
I like this way of looking at things.
When other people take a long time to do something, they’re slow; when we take a long time, we’re thorough. When they don’t do something, they’re lazy; when we don’t, we’re too busy. When they succeed, they’re lucky; when we do, we deserve it.
Look at LUKE 11:36. This means that if we have the right perspective we will make right choices. Life is all about our choices. Probably all of us can look back at situations in our lives and realize if we would have chosen differently, things could have been better or we wouldn’t have made a series of bad mistakes.
Dr. Pierce Harris, a pastor from Atlanta, Georgia, preached to some prisoners. One of the prisoners got up and introduced him th the others with these words: “Several years ago, two boys lived in a town in north Georgia. They went to the same school, played together and attended the same Sunday School. One dropped out of Sunday School and said that it was ‘sissy stuff.’ The other boy kept on going. One rejected Christ; the other accepted Him. The boy who rejected Christ is making this introduction today. The boy who accepted Christ is the honored preacher who will speak to us today!”
Of course the perspective we need is God’s perspective. When we look at things through God’s revelation and perspective we respond in ways that bless us.
I love this story. There is a lot we can see in it. What we are going to look at today is the two different perspectives shown by the Pharisee and the woman and the resulting actions caused by their perspectives. This Pharisee had such an opportunity, he had Jesus Christ at his home for dinner. But because of his perspective he really missed out. What wonderful things could have happened because Jesus was at his house for dinner. We know that in the case of Zacchaeus, dinner with Jesus changed his life. Jesus declared that salvation had come to his house. Once when Jesus was at Peter’s house Peter’s mother-in-law was healed. When Jesus was at Mary and Martha’s house, Mary sat at His feet listening to the word and Jesus said she had received the needful thing: to hear the word of God. Mary got to listen to Jesus teach at her house. Wow!! As we look at this story of the Pharisee we can think of lots of wonderful things that could have been. Even though this Pharisee had such a great opportunity, he missed out.
So, what Were the perspectives in this story?
HIMSELF: This Pharisee obviously thought he was “all right” as he was. That he was a good guy. According to the world’s way of looking at things he probably was.
