Do you see this woman? (Luke 7:44)

Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. (Luke 7:44 NASB)

When Jesus turned to Simon with "something to say", He asked him a question that might have seemed silly to Simon. "Do you see this woman?" He said. Of course Simon saw the woman! He had just been pondering her wicked past. He saw her, and all the wrong things she had ever done. He saw her, for sure!

Jesus had seen the woman, too. When Jesus began to describe what He had seen, it sounded vastly different than what Simon had seen. It also sounded amazingly better! Simon saw the past. Only the past. Jesus saw the past, too, as well as the havoc the past had created, but He also saw the fresh start she was making. He saw her love for her Lord and the humility and generosity of spirit she had displayed. With the past and the present, He had a glimpse of her future and the woman of faith she would become. His view of this woman brought great compassion and a willingness to invest Himself in her life. 

We see people every day who are struggling and in need of compassion and assistance. Our willingness to be involved in their lives will be dependent, in large measure, upon how we "see" them. Do we see them with "Simon eyes", focusing on their mistakes and their past failures? Do we see them with the eyes of Christ, focusing on the person they are now and all they might become? Being the hands and feet of Christ begins with having the eyes of Christ. 

Do you have the eyes of Christ toward those less fortunate? Do you have the eyes of Christ toward those who have filled their lives with one mistake after another? The woman with the alabaster vial had filled her life with mistakes, but as she wept at the feet of Jesus, repentant and broken, those mistakes were washed away and a new life began. 

Pray today to see those around us (especially those we love most) with the eyes of Christ. Pray, too, that those with mistake-laden lives will have the past washed away at the feet of Jesus, and will rise to become the men and women of God they were created to be. 

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http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/06/life-on-farm-greenhouse-compound.html