Jesus was a master at seeing potential good and spotting latent capabilities lying dormant in the lives of people. He saw Peter as a rock when he was little more than a spongy marshmallow! He saw beyond the seven devils in Mary Magdalene to the saint she was to become! Jesus looked past the defrauding Zacchaeus to a man who would restore fourfold those who had been victim to his “weasel” tactics! He saw a searching heart in the woman taken in adultery while others failed to look past the awfulness of her sin! The Master saw beyond the despondency of blind Bartimaeus to an exuberant man with 20-20 vision! He saw beyond the “under-coveredness” of Nicodemus’ searching to a time after His crucifixion when Nicodemus would boldly step out into the light of Christendom!
During his childhood, Sir Walter Scott, the famous Scottish poet and novelist, was rated as a moron in school. When Thomas Edison was in grade school, his teacher advised his parents to take him out of school to work on the farm. Napoleon Bonaparte was sent to Military Academy in Paris. He had the distinction of graduating 42nd in a class of 43. Sir Isaac Newton showed so little promise that his parents took him out of school so that he could do menial work. Henry Ward Beecher, that giant in pulpit and church of a century ago, had one of his teachers write: “Henry is a poor writer and a miserable speller. He has a thick utterance and a reticence so great that he seems actually stupid.”
True, the Lord sees us as we are now, but thankfully He sees beyond that to that which we can become. But beyond ourselves, we also need to help discover the “hidden jewels” in others. Sacrificial time spent in conversation with one of the world’s “nobodies”. . . a well-timed note of encouragement… a personal interest shown in that loner standing on the fringes … a word of praise for a less-than-perfect piece of work performed by one who did his very best … this is all it may take to uncover that “diamond in the rough”! Take time to discover the virtues and the latent abilities in others! It’s worth the effort!
November/December 1978
