Thinking It Through: Seeing the Person Right in Front of Us
By Matthew Glock
Riding the Paris subway during rush hour overwhelms the senses. You feel the crush of the packed car. You can’t move. You fix your gaze on a point above the other passengers’ heads, waiting for the moment when you’ll squeeze through the crowd and experience your deliverance.
The crammed subway reflects reality: Paris is among the most crowded cities in the world. The streets teem with the humanity that God desires "to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Our response should be obeying Jesus’s command to go into this world and make disciples. As I contemplate this urban reality, God’s desire, and Jesus’s command, I wonder, What can I do?
One answer is similar to what the majority of Parisians do: get out of the subway and into my apartment as fast as possible. The city’s noise, crowds, and endless possibilities can make people feel lost, causing them to withdraw and separate from others. Thus, the city isolates those who live in it—myself included.
We can sense the same helplessness in relation to God’s desire that all people be saved. When I look out on the sea of humanity that surrounds me in my day-to-day life, I can lose heart. I think we can all identify with these feelings. We all face our limits and the indifference of those who surround us—it doesn’t matter if we live in a big city like Paris or in the suburbs, in a small city, or on a farm. Yet I know that, if this is what God desires, He will accomplish it. He is the One who brings growth.
Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." Moreover, in the mass of the people who surround us, there are those whom God has prepared. So we do not lose heart.
Just as the Bible teaches us that God desires to reach all, it also teaches us that Jesus is our prime example of how to do the Father’s will: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Time and again, Jesus shows the way. During His ministry, He would stop and focus on the person who was before Him. He teaches us the value of each one. He commissions us with these words: "'As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.'" (John 20:21)
Even if the city tends to isolate people to the point that it is difficult to reach those in our apartment building, we don’t lose heart. The way to reach everyone is to take care of the one right before us.
As I write this, I see in my mind’s eye our neighbor, who is one of those very isolated people. She deals with many health issues. We had often greeted her only to receive little response in return. Then, one day, she came to Sylvie, my wife, and demonstrated a desire to talk. Little by little, the indifference changed into a desire to be present in the community and to know Jesus through His Word.
There are other examples, and at the heart of each one is a meeting. At some point, we must stop and see the one who is on our path. Yes, the city teems with people who hurry from one point to another, who seek refuge in their apartments far from the noise and chaos of the city—ourselves included—yet God desires that each one be saved. He calls us to open our eyes and see what He is doing, and He invites us to take part. ■
Matthew Glock serves in France.
