I was once challenged by the Worship Leader at a large festival to pray to God while looking into the eyes of the person sitting next to you.
What a ridiculous suggestion! We all know that the proper posture for prayer is “head bowed, eyes closed.” Right? (It was years later when I realized the fact that nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to pray with our heads bowed and eyes closed.)
I reluctantly tried to follow his challenge.
I found it uncomfortable at first. Really uncomfortable. The person I was praying with clearly felt it too.
By the conclusion of both of our prayers, some of the discomfort dissipated. But it still seemed weird. Out of place. Somehow, wrong.
But a seed had been planted. I couldn’t seem to shake this idea that there was something real about what he had led us to do.
Shortly after that, I found myself leading an evening devotional time during a Youth Mission Trip. While expounding on Jesus’ parable of the Sheep and the Goats, I came across:
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” —Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
Suddenly a thought came to me. The person sitting next to me was certainly counted among “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine.” Even though I didn’t personally know them, they were created in His image. He died for them. His Holy Spirit dwelt within them. So based on this verse, while I was looking into their eyes, I was — in a sense — looking into the eyes of Jesus.
The more I’ve considered this, the clearer the picture has become.
If the Holy Spirit dwells within us, then of course we can connect with that Spirit.
Jesus drove this point home when He said to Saul:
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. —Acts 9:5
At first look, it seemed that everyone Saul had persecuted was a living, breathing human person. But Jesus made it clear that this just was not so. These are His children. He takes what happens to them very seriously. He considers that everything that happens to them, happens to Him.
In that light, we are surrounded by Jesus every day.
When I consider that Jesus takes this so personally, it has a serious impact on how I see and treat those I share the earth with. I am slower to react. I show more grace. I refuse to judge.
I now try to take this truth with me every day.
So, guess who I saw today?