At one of our kids sports camps in Northern England, the kids were gathered around their team leaders hearing about Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. One of the girls was very interested and asking questions. Towards the end of the team talk, she asked, “How come we can’t see Jesus?” A tough question to answer to a six year-old! The team leader explained that Jesus is like the wind—we may not be able to see Him, but we can feel Him and see the effects of His work.
After the team talk was over I asked this girl some questions. We sat on the grass while the other kids played football, and she expressed that she was interested in God and she wanted to know more about Him. She had heard of Jesus before but she hadn’t prayed to receive Him into her life. She understood sin and the brokenness of people and decided to give her life to God! I was so excited to pray with her and tell her about the church community nearby, full of kids who learned more about God every week.
Upon reflecting on this encounter, I thought about how God already saw this girl coming to Him. She was one person out of a large group of children who experienced a shift in her heart and made a decision. God wants all of us to come to Him, but I thought about how special and sweet it is to God when each individual gives their life to Him like this young girl did.
God is constantly impressing it on me to perceive all individuals as He sees them, completely loved and cherished by Him and ripe for the harvest. Yet so often, I don’t see people that way. I really wasn’t expecting to pray with someone as they gave her life to God that day at camp. Why was I surprised? Hadn’t I just prayed over the camp an hour beforehand that this would happen? We fail at this Kingdom perspective so often, but how amazing is it that God is perfectly conscious of every single individual on this planet whom He loves unconditionally, and He wants us and empowers us to see everyone the way He sees them!
Our efforts this summer have been centered around the verse Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few….” I have been praying for the harvest, the furthering of God’s Kingdom, and it’s been so amazing to witness some of these harvest moments. God is growing His church and we are becoming more and more aware of the people all around us that need God’s love. Instead of blankly seeing just a bunch of faces in our day to day lives as I so often do, let’s see every person, individually, as loved by God. Let’s see the harvest, a massive need for God found in every nation and culture on earth, and let’s see it in each individual too. Let’s pray specifically for individuals and seek out ways to show them God’s love as we go about our day to day lives.
