My favorite goalie!

As a parent of a soccer player, specifically a goalkeeper, there have been plenty of times when we get to the end of a game, and I feel like the score doesn’t fully reflect what just happened on the field over the last 90 minutes.

If you’re not very familiar with the game of soccer, the one thing you probably do know is that it is usually a low-scoring game, with many games even ending 0-0. Whatever the final score, those numbers only express the few times the soccer ball made it into the goal without being stopped. What those numbers don’t tell you is the number of times the goalie made a daring save or how often one of the strikers made a shot that hit the crossbar or how well the defensive players kept the ball out of harm’s way so the goalie could have a boring game and his mom could feel a lot less stress. (I have nearly worn out the rocking camping chair I bring to games due to nervous over-rocking!)

Of course, this surface understanding doesn’t just apply to the game of soccer or even to sports in general. This relates to understanding people, too. It’s way too easy to look at people and make assumptions about who they are and how they think and what they’ve done.

In John 7, we read about a time when Jesus went to the temple courts to teach. There was a festival going on and the crowds had gathered to listen to Him speak. In the span of five verses, those listening went from being amazed and saying, “Where did this man get all of this knowledge when he was never formally taught?” to deciding that He must’ve been demon-possessed because He claimed that there were people who wanted to kill him. Jesus called them out on their wishy-washiness and told them, “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

That wasn’t just instruction for Jesus’ audience thousands of years ago. That’s also sound advice for me today. Whether I’m meeting someone for the first time or it’s someone I already know, I have to pump the brakes when I’m tempted to make a snap judgement. It’s like the prophet Isaiah said and Jesus quoted, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.”

That person standing in front of me is so much more complex than I might give him credit for. So I am called to pray that the Holy Spirit will equip me with grace and mercy, and that he will put my “God Goggles” in place, so that I see this precious soul the way God sees him. I like the words of the song by Christian artist Brandon Heath: “Give me Your eyes for just one second / Give me Your eyes so I can see / Everything that I keep missing / Give me Your love for humanity / Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted / The ones that are far beyond my reach / Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten / Give me Your eyes so I can see.”