Seeing as God Sees

To see the world as God sees it, one cannot help but be a "man of sorrows" and a friend of grief. Yet, to see the world as God sees it is to embrace that sorrow as the gift the Spirit uses to fill a man with compassion for others, with a heart that longs to comfort the sorrowful, and with a heart that readily sees the needs of others as greater than his own.
To see the world as God sees it is to find joy in the midst of trials, to find strength to bear the cross of each day, to find contentment in little or much, to find hope when things are out of one's control, to find the ability to love others deeply in the midst of the apathy and even in the midst of the hatred of others. To see the world as God sees it is to be unafraid of the loneliness you fear the most because in the midst of it, He is always there.
To see the world as God sees is to develop a desire for times of aloneness with Him. To desperately long for times of quiet in His presence with His thoughts resting in your lap opening your soul for times of meditation, contemplation, and confession. Yet, to see the world as God sees it is to long for times of refreshing, acceptance, love, and praise in the presence of the congregation, in the unity of the body.
To see the world as God sees it is to deeply, impatiently long for His return to set things right on the earth. Yet to see the world as God sees it is to realize that man given a perfect kingdom where righteousness reigns, where there is only peace and no war, where social justice is supreme is not enough to bring man contentment and happiness. At the first opportunity, he--the heart of man is desperately wicked--will try to overthrow that kingdom and free himself from the rule of God. To see the world as God sees it is to realize that God on the throne of earth is not enough to defeat the selfish desires of man's heart. The only thing that can do that is God on the throne of a man's heart.
To see the world as God sees it is to rest in the truth that now--today--I can have abiding, ruling, in my heart faith, hope, and love. And that the greatest of these is love.

"Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth Thou has for me; place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for Thee, ready my God, Thy will to see; open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!"