{"id":15125,"date":"2021-11-13T03:45:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T09:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=15125"},"modified":"2021-11-13T03:45:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T09:45:40","slug":"i-looked-but-didnt-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=15125","title":{"rendered":"I Looked, But Didn’t See"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To my Life Group this week, I confessed that I had become irritated with the trash and paraphernalia around the homeless areas near where I live. When I first moved to Austin, I took on the \u201cMiss Goody Two Shoes\u201d persona when I saw the homeless near where I live and throughout Austin. I blogged about how Jesus was homeless in His three years of ministry. So, I pledged to see Jesus in the homeless as I would drive by their encampments. I wish I could say that I kept that self-righteous attitude, but it soon caved even to the point of resentment.

Now, because of the ban that was passed this year, the homeless have been relocated. Still homeless people stand on street corners holding their signs for help. I pondered: \u201cWhy don\u2019t they get a job? Why aren\u2019t they trying to improve their conditions? My ongoing debate with myself caused me to look the other way from who they were and what their needs might really be.

Coming out of church and the parking lots on Sundays, is the same man with his sign asking for help. Quite smart of him to wait on those who just heard messages about giving. I admit that I saw him, standing (he could stand), holding a sign (he could write), and judged him for begging rather than working. I reasoned \u2013 I know people who have serious life conditions, yet they work to earn their living. What in the world happened to my warm heart?

In our Life Group this week, I got a wake-up call \u2013 not that I had been sleeping at all, but my conscience was seared from a cold heart. Obviously, I was not Mother Teresa with her unrelenting heart for helping ALL humanity. Reviewing the pastor\u2019s Sunday message, we talked about having \u201cgiving hearts\u201d. One of the women said \u201cWe look but we don\u2019t see. We see but we don\u2019t look.\u201d She asked: \u201cDid you SEE the man standing at the corner of the church parking lot? Did you look at him but didn\u2019t see him?\u201d Ouch! I saw him but didn\u2019t really SEE him and his desires, his needs, his wants.
Scriptures came flooding into my mind.

Jesus said, in Matthew 5:25, \u201cFor I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.\u201d

And Matthew 25:40, \u201c….inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, My brothers, you have done it to Me.\u201d

Ouch and OH ME! Miss Do-Good had let reasoning, insensitivity and callousness blind me. I, who am beyond blessed, yearned for the traffic light to change so I didn\u2019t have to respond to someone in need, regardless of their plight. I, who desire to be used by God to touch a hurting soul, withdrew from compassion and sensitivity.

After being schooled ever so gently by God through one of my \u201cstudents\u201d, (Yes, oftentimes students teach their teachers), I have repented and repurposed my purpose. And that purpose is to SEE on purpose. I desire to live in an \u201cI can\u2019t help myself\u201d \u2013 I MUST be an extension of Jesus\u2019 love and invite Him in via the hungry and those starving for love. It\u2019s not up to me to judge them, but to freely give as Jesus freely gave. He SAW the hungry (even fed 5,000+ of them); He SAW the blind, touched them, and they, too, could SEE. He SAW the sick and healed them.
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I know a sure sign that our concern for people is growing when we find ourselves LOOKING at people and thinking, \u201cHow can I help them? What do they need?\u201d We can\u2019t do everything, but we can do something. I\u2019m purposing to have a warm heart and I am going to SEE. It\u2019s a small, meager way, but I\u2019ve made up little bags to keep in my car and LOOK for those who look just like Jesus! I want them to know they matter. I want to know they matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To my Life Group this week, I confessed that I had become irritated with the trash and paraphernalia around the homeless areas near where I live. When I first moved to Austin, I took on the \u201cMiss Goody Two Shoes\u201d persona when I saw the homeless near where I live and throughout Austin. I blogged…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22077,22078,20058,22076],"tags":[22075,650,788,1210,22068,1769,18143,8957,22072,5330,549,22067,590,22074,40,22069,5700,5502,4506,22071,22070,12710,22073],"class_list":["post-15125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts-of-random-kindness","category-ark","category-homeless","category-looked-but-didnt-see","tag-acts-of-random-kindness","tag-austin","tag-begging","tag-blog","tag-but-didnt-see","tag-christian","tag-cold-heart","tag-do-good","tag-get-a-job","tag-goody-two-shoes","tag-homeless","tag-i-looked","tag-i-was-hungry","tag-insenstivity","tag-inspiration","tag-jesus-was-homeless","tag-life-group","tag-matthew-2540","tag-matthew-525","tag-resent","tag-self-righteous","tag-wake-up-call-2","tag-warm-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15129,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15125\/revisions\/15129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}