Elizabeth Browning once said, “Earth is crammed with heaven, and every bush is aflame with the fire of God, but only those who see take off their shoes. The rest just pick the berries.” As we begin to mature in Christ, we begin to see Him in all things. We see Him in creation because “all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”

         We can see God in the things He made, but even more basic than this, is seeing Him in His people. Jesus said in Matthew 23:39: “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” As He says, we will not see Him until we see Him in those He sends to us. Obviously, we must do this before we can see Him in creation or any other way.

         II Corinthians 3:18 states, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” We are changed by seeing His glory, so paramount to maturing and growing up into Him is seeing Him in His glory. The main way we see Him is by looking for Him. 

         If you have ever been to a sporting event that you were unfamiliar with, the game may have seemed like chaos until someone explained to you what to look for, and how the game is played—scoring, rules, penalties, etc. Then you began to see things you did not notice before and the game became clearer. Likewise, to see Christ we need to know what to look for. The more we come to know Him in the Scriptures, the more we will see Him in others, in creation, and most importantly, as He manifests Himself to us. 

         People tend to see what they look for, or what they focus on. Elizabeth Browning may be better at seeing the Lord in a bush than I can, and I want to get better at that, but our priority should be to see Him in His people, because He said we would not see Him until we see Him in those He sends.

         I have had two people become instrumental in my life, whom I did not like at first, and I did not want to be near them. However, they ended up becoming my closest friends and mentors when I was a young Christian. Since then, others that I was not drawn to, had a significant impact in my life. Now I understand the Lord has been using these relationships to tear down my pride and prejudices. Our prejudices, or even our strong preferences, can be a hindrance to our seeing Him.

         Since the two men on the road to Emmaus did not see Jesus until they saw Him breaking bread, I try to become especially keen to seeing Him in those who provide spiritual food to His people. Just as the Lord did some of His greatest works before some of the smallest groups, we should also think of our smallest meetings as places where He likes to do His greatest works. 

         Of course, since “God is love,” the most basic way we can recognize Him is in those who manifest His love. He even said that His disciples would be known by their love. Years ago, I became concerned when our ministry became known around the world for many things, but love was not one of them. I brought this up to our local congregation, and we began to pray and ask the Lord for help. Even though we may still have a long way to grow in this, He has helped us, and now one of the main comments we get from those who visit us is how they feel so much love. Now our goal is that visitors do not talk about us at all, even our love, but about the Lord because they encounter Him when they are with us.  

© 2021 Rick Joyner. All Right Reserved.