See Yourself Through God's Eyes

It happened when Jesus was teaching a crowd of people at the Mount of Olives. A group of scribes and pharisees brought a woman into the crowd for the purpose of testing Jesus that they might find a transgression of the Jewish law against him. They accused this woman of adultery. The law said this woman should be stoned. But Jesus knelt down and wrote something in the dirt. What did he write? There are assumptions made by biblical scholars. Some think he was writing the sins of the people. Then he stood up and said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Whatever he wrote spoke so loudly that the scriptures say, “they heard it!” So one by one, from older to younger, the crowd dispersed and only two remained; Jesus and The Woman. And Jesus said to her, “Where are your accusers?” and she answered, “No one, Lord.” This is the first time she spoke. But she called him Lord. And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on, sin no more.” quotes from John 8:1-11

There is another woman found in another crowd that was following Jesus. Jesus had just returned from casting demons out of a man and into pigs and found a crowd waiting for him. A ruler of the synagogue named Jairus, implored Jesus to go to his house and heal his daughter who was only twelve but dying. So Jesus began walking and the people crowded in on Jesus. There was a woman, poor from going to doctors for twelve years who had an issue of blood but she had faith that just touching the hem of Jesus' garment would bring healing to her body.

And when she touched the garment, she was immediately healed! Jesus knew that someone had touched him in faith because he said, “I perceive that power has gone out from me.” But then the woman was fearful when Jesus asked who it was who touched him. But she explained why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. And Jesus called her “Daughter” and said, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace”.

Jesus was sitting by a well in the town of Sychar, in the country of Samaria. He was tired from walking from Judea and was on his way to Galilee. It was about noon and a woman of this country came to fill her water pots. She came in the heat of the day to hopefully avoid travelers and foreigners. Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She said, “How is it that a Jew is asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink?” And Jesus said if she only knew the gift of God and who I am, you would be asking for living water.” She was perplexed and asked, “Where do you get that living water?”

Jesus explained, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said, “Sir, give me this water.” In John 4:10, Jesus had said to her that she needed to ask and in verse 15 she did ask! Then Jesus reveals her sin in that she was living in adultery having had five husbands and not being married to her current husband. She went back to town and witnessed to many so that in verse 39 it is recorded, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything that I ever did.”

All three of these women looked into the face of Jesus. All three were sinners. But they all received grace, forgiveness, pardon, cleansing, and power to be witnesses to others. The woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before the crowd to be stoned was forgiven and not condemned. The woman with the issue of blood received healing in her body but more important, she received peace. The woman at the well received living water that “wells up to eternal life”. She also became a powerful witness to the fact that Jesus was truly the Messiah.

Do you see yourself through the eyes of Jesus? Or are you believing the lies of the crowds around you?

It is written in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” He sees you as his perfect creation, but also in need of a Savior. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Jesus sees you as beautiful, creative, worthy; He sees you as Friend, Daughter, Child of God. Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God as beloved children. This contemporary song, Remind Me Who I Am by Jason Gray, will encourage you to see yourself as a child of the King. You can listen to the song here and if you watch the video to the end, you will realize that you are Beloved.

When I lose my way,
And I forget my name
Remind me who I am
In the mirror all I see
Is who I don't wanna be
Remind me who I am

In the loneliest places
When I can't remember what grace is

Tell me, once again
Who I am to You, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to You, that I belong to You
To You

When my heart is like a stone,
And I'm running far from home
Remind me who I am
When I cant receive Your love
Afraid I'll never be enough
Remind me who I am

If I'm Your beloved can You help me believe it

Tell me, once again
Who I am to you, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to you, that I belong to You
To You

I'm the one You love, I'm the one You love
That will be enough, I'm the one You love

Tell me, once again
Who I am to you, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to you, that I belong to You