Where do you look for God?

Many times when the sun is going down, and the sky has a golden haze my mind marvels at God’s beautiful work. When my feet are in the cool water of a moving tide, the sand is soft, and the heat is blown away by the wind I feel God’s beautiful work. Even when I look at the dark clouds of a summer storm, I can feel God’s beauty as the lighting crashes on the land. But in all of this have I really seen God fully, or have I been missing something?

Often times we look for God in the big things, the things to which we have no control over. We marvel at them, yet the “greater reality is beyond what we see, but what we don’t see”. The place we as Christians often forget to look for God is in the eyes of our brothers and sisters, in the hurting, suffering, and the lonely lives that they live every day. Why don’t we look for God there? How do we as Christians become blind to the reality of this? Why do so many who have so much walk around each day and not share? Why do so many who profess the Gospel but do not reflect it? Christ’s said this;

“For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me….
I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these you did not do for me.” (Matthew 25:42-45)

As Christians in a world that says we should make and take, where many of the “religious right” are less hospitable to sharing their wealth with the needy, it becomes a question of are they really looking for God? If God the Father is so rich in mercy and grace too look at you in the eyes, and say I give you my Son, can you not look into your brothers or sisters eyes and give him something they need? Sometimes all they need is comfort, a hug and someone to listen, yet we often pass them by because we think we see God in something “grander”. Can you have true faith in God and yet pass by a brother in need and do nothing? James writes;

“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” (James 2: 15-17)

So, I challenge you the reader, don’t stop looking for God in the big things, but do not forget that God has challenged us to look for him in the people we pass by everyday. Our brothers and our own lives can reflect God if He truly lives in our hearts. Don’t forget a brother or sister in need, and always remember God can reveal His will in a grand view atop a mountain, or in a single tear. Look for God in all things.

May the Peace of Christ be with You!!!