Are you seeing – or are you looking?

By Susan September 19, 2018 Devotion

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money.

But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk”

Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.

Acts 3:3-8

In the passage from Acts, we read about a lame beggar laying outside the temple gate called Beautiful. I find it interesting that Scripture says that the man “saw” Peter and John, yet Peter replied, “Look at us!” If the man saw them, even asked for money, why did Peter tell him to look at them?

When the man asked Peter and John for money, it doesn’t say they “saw” the man. It says that Peter and John “looked at him intently.”

There’s a difference between “seeing” and “looking.”

SEEING = the process of observing, involuntary, passive
LOOKING = conscious consideration, active interpretation (the bigger picture)

Seeing is something we do without thought. It’s what our eye sees without trying, a process of observing the world around us in an arbitrary way as we go about our daily lives.

Looking is like squinting at life to actively make meaning of that world with a more involved sense of purpose and direction.

The lame man saw Peter and John as a chance to receive what he WANTED.

Peter and John looked at him and gave him what he NEEDED.

The lame man was correct in EXPECTING to receive SOMETHING from them. But he received so much more than the monetary donation he would have been satisfied with!

Many of us haven’t even come to the place where we really expect something from God. This is FAITH. We should expect the right things from God. We are so often willing to settle for much less than God wants to give us, and our low expectations rob us.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:9-10

The people were filled with wonder and amazement!

WONDER = awe felt in the presence of divine activity
AMAZEMENT= the state of being lifted out of one’s habitual life & thought by encountering the power of God

When was the last time you were filled with wonder and amazement at the work of God in your life or someone elses? Can we be lifted out our OUR habitual life and thought by encountering the power of God?

Can we stop seeing and start looking!