SEEING YOURSELF THROUGH HEAVEN’S EYES – PART TWO
Friends, we are back to conclude the message we started last time: Seeing Yourself Through Heavens’ Eyes. And we read from Genesis 16:1-9 and verse 13. But because it is a bit long we don’t have time to reread it. But it is from Genesis 16, the story of Hagar, Sarai’s maid – Egyptian maid, whom she gave to her husband Abram as wife.
PRAYER:
Father, we thank You for this moment when You have graciously permitted us to approach Your Word. Thank You for this opportunity which we take for granted in this part of the world; for there are parts of the world where people cannot hear Your Word so freely like we do. So we say thanks, in Jesus Name. Amen!
Seeing yourself from heaven’s eyes means simply seeing yourself from God’s eyes. By heaven we mean God. That’s one word that the Jews would use because they did not use the Name of God flippantly or carelessly. So they would say heaven when they want to say God.
How does God see you? We said that we tend to see ourselves through our own eyes and through the eyes of others; and we get into trouble when we do that. Some people, because of the way they see themselves or others see them, have hurt themselves. Remember we cited the example of a beautiful wife of a Head of State who tried to alter her physical appearance based on how she saw herself, and perhaps how others saw her – but I think how she saw herself: because she was a beautiful woman; in the process lost her life.
When you see yourself from heaven’s eyes, we said, you see at least three things: your true identity, your true character and your true contribution. And we’ve already talked about the true identity. We started talking about that. We did finish it. We said that Hagar’s identity, though altered by Sarai the wife of Abram still did not change from heaven’s eyes because when God spoke to her, Hagar, God did not call her Abram’s wife as Sarah did. God called her still Sarai’s maid. Therefore those who have multiple wives, in the eyes of God: that first one who is still alive is the one God calls your wife.
We also saw Jacob who tried to change his identity. He came to his father to deceive him with a false identity. He said, I am Esau your first son. And his father, because he could not see, felt him; and of course, his hands were doctored as it were, the mother had covered his hands with the hair of the animal they killed. And his father was deceived and gave him the blessing of the firstborn.
And we said without spiritual sight or insight feelings will always fool you.
But you see, twenty years later, Jacob saw his identity from heaven’s eyes. Jacob had to face this identity issue again twenty years later. In Genesis 32 when he was returning from his uncle’s home Laban he also ran away from there just like he ran away from home, running away from Esau his brother. In Genesis 32:27-28
Gen 32:27-28
27So He [that is, God] said to him [Jacob], “What is your name?”
He said, “Jacob.”
28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Notice that Jacob had a blessing of identity change only when he told the all-seeing God the truth concerning himself. Jacob, when he was wrestling with God said, I will not let you go until You bless me. And what blessing did he receive? God changed his identity. That was the greatest blessing that God can give anybody.
Some of us today see the blessing of God only in material terms, but not in spiritual terms. And some of us play games with God. We hide our true identity from people; and we think we can also hide it from God. You do not want to admit to God that you are a sinner. He will not forgive you and change you into a new creation until you tell Him the truth about yourself. The tax collector prayed at the temple in Luke 18:13: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But on the other hand, the Pharisee who tried to hide his true identity from God, went home without divine blessing, without a changed life. In Luke 18:14, Jesus says, talking about these two people:
Luke 18:14
14I tell you, this man [that’s the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
There was an identity change. God changed who he was because he told God the truth about himself. Friend, will you tell God the truth about you? He says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you see yourself from heaven’s eyes, you see your true character.
In Number 12:1-8, Aaron and Miriam thought of Moses their brother as a proud person. They thought that they were thinking of himself more highly than he was proud. After all he was not the only person God has spoken to. Korah and his group also had the same view of Moses. They assembled 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation of Israel, renowned men: and they said to Moses, you are taking too much. This congregation is holy – everyone of them. And these are the people God said were stiff-naked people, but they said they were all holy, just because they wanted to attack Moses.
But how did God see Moses? What was the character of Moses in the eyes of God? But, by the way, before we get into that, what is character? Character is what you are when no one is watching or listening. Character is the purity of the motives that determine your actions. Character is what God thinks of you. One man of God said, Charles Swindoll, We live in a world that says, in many ways, “if you just make a good impression that’s all that matters.” But he said, “You can’t fake it with the Almighty. He is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on inward qualities, like the character of the heart…those things that take time and discipline to cultivate.” It takes time and discipline to cultivate character. How did God see the character of Moses?
In Number 12:6-7
Numbers 12:6-7
6Then He said,
“Hear now My words [God, speaking]:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
He is faithful. You know, many of us will work for success, especially those of us in the ministry. Success! Success! Success! But God is looking, first of all, for faithfulness, not success. God also bore witness to Moses that he was the humblest or meekest man on the face of the earth: Numbers 12:3.
What does God know about you? Everything! How does He see your character?
Finally, when you see yourself from heaven’s eyes, you see you true contribution. In Saint Mark’s Gospel 12, the story of the Widows Mite, from verse 41-44: Jesus saw people who were giving their contributions for the work of God; and Jesus made this remark, that this poor widow had given the most, and yet she gave two mites – two little coins. Why? Because from heaven’s eyes God sees your contribution in terms of the proportion or the percentage of what He has given you. How much of it do you give? God measures our contributions in terms of proportion. The reason the Lord Jesus said that the woman gave the most was because she gave all. She gave 100 percent. What proportion of your time, money, skills do you contribute toward the work of God, friend? What does heaven see? How does God see your identity? How does He see your character? How does He see your contribution? Remember, none of us can fool God.
PRAYER:
Father, may all who have heard take this message to heart; and may Your Spirit work in us in the areas of who we really are, in the areas of our character and our contribution towards Your work. May You bring the best out of us, and may none seek to fool You, for You can never be fooled by a man, in Jesus Name. Amen!