RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Many years ago, God gave me a burden to reach people that no one else seemed to care about. I longed to reach people in nations where people had not heard the gospel. As I traveled to Europe, I found people lost in spiritual darkness. I longed to reach people in many of the countries where I traveled, but had no idea how to begin.
One of the first places I visited was East Berlin. As I prayed, I asked God to somehow open the doors for me to reach the people in East Berlin with the gospel.
I couldn’t stay in my comfortable surroundings in the West. I discovered it was possible to get a twenty-four-hour visa and travel from West Berlin to East Berlin. Out of a passionate desire to reach those people, I decided to visit East Berlin.
I didn’t know anyone there. Many times I would ride the train all over East Berlin. As I studied the faces of people, I saw something I didn’t expect. I had expected to see hard, belligerent people who didn’t like Americans. Instead I saw lonely people with no purpose in life. I began to see those people through a different set of eyes. I began to see them simply as people — people created in the image of God, people with a need for the Savior.
I would strike up conversations on the train and discovered the people had a hunger for meaning in their lives. At first they were frightened to speak with a stranger. Then their hunger to hear about God would overcome their fear of what would happen to them. Many even tried to protect me.
During those early days of my Christian experience, I learned a great lesson. God doesn’t look at people as communists, Muslims, Hindus, or even Christians. He sees people as they are in their hearts: lonely and hurting. And He longs to heal and save all people — everywhere. That’s why the Bible says, “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus loved people as no one has ever loved them.
When we begin to see people through the eyes of Jesus, we too will love them as we’ve never loved them. We’ll not see them with all of the world’s religious or political name tags. We’ll see them as God’s creation in need of a Savior.
The next time you see someone you might consider an enemy, why don’t you pray a simple prayer: “Help me, O God, to see people as you see them.” When you pray that way, watch out. You may begin seeing people as you’ve never before seen them.