Luke 19:41-44 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
Imagine being able to look back at your life and fix your biggest mistakes. Better yet, imagine being able to see the outcome of every set of choices that you could have made and being able to pick the best ones. Even then we could mess up our lives unless we had a full understanding of the purpose of life and what was truly important. This is how Jesus sees the world. He sees life for what it truly is and understands everything in its proper context. He sees the full impact of every decision you make on yourself, on those around you and on the world.
Imagine watching a movie and coming to sympathise with the character as they struggle to achieve a worthy goal. Imagine seeing that character suffer through injustice and misery only to break through and come to a point where they are just about to be victorious. But then you enter the movie, unaware of what that person has been through and it turns out that you are the enemy, who finally destroys that persons potential and ends their quest for something good. I worry about being the bad guy in another person's life.
God is all knowing and all wise. He sees life as it is from the other side and His commands are perfect. God knows the people around us and He cares for them. He sees their struggles and wants us to help them because He loves them. He also knows us better than we know ourselves and He has seen the same mistakes being made in peoples lives again and again. The bible spends so much time talking about love because it really is important. Many people give out of their abundance but true love takes sacrifice and effort. In the end our works will be seen for what they are. The true attitudes of our hearts will be evident and our true selves will be clearly visible.
Acts 24:15,16 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
Here Paul says that he tries to keep his conscience clear before God and men because of the resurrection. I believe that we will all meet on the other side and be able to see how we treated each other on Earth. But there we will see each other without the things that we use to categorize and discriminate. We won't see social status, color or even IQ. God tells us to look at the log in our own eyes before trying to fix the smaller problems in others. He tells us to be forgiving and to try to help and build up instead of tear down. He wants us to be patient and longsuffering with each other and we will be happy we did when we get to the other side.
Many of the scribes and pharisees talked about God but they had no love in their hearts. God saw the suffering of the people around them and desired deeply for them to help them but the religious elite were solely focused on their own well beings and their own respect. When Jesus angrily rebuked them for their arrogance He was desperately trying to shake them out of their stubbornness and for their own good. He could see clearly how important it was for them to repent but many of them remained in their sin.
When Jesus asked the rich ruler to give all of his money to the poor he wasn't saying it lightly. He knew the massive sacrifice that he was asking him to make and He could clearly see that this was what was best for the man. From eternity the man now gets to see what he truly lost that day, a wonderful opportunity to follow Christ and to live a life of true significance. What he gained was money and nothing else.
In the end we will get to see our lives from eternity. We will get to understand the purpose of it all and we will get to see why it was necessary. I believe that dying will be more like waking up than going to sleep. We will realise that we were never really alone and that what we did in the shadows was actually done in the light and clearly visible from eternity. I wish I could see the importance of following God's will but many times I willfully ignore what I know is the truth. God has made His will known to us through the bible and He has also left us His Holy Spirit to guide and to teach us. I believe our response to our all-knowing God should be to seek Him earnestly and to pray for guidance and wisdom knowing that He sees what we don't. Our vision is blurred but through faith we can trust that He sees perfectly.
In the end we will stand before God and be judged but He has given us a secret weapon to help us on that day. The risen Lord is our Savior and He is here to help us in our weakness. Through relationship with God we can find the strength to live holy lives and to grow in His likeness. The bible is full of hope because He is always willing to forgive us and to help us change.
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!