William Wilberforce,1759-1833, lived in London, England his whole life. He grew up in a culture that was much like ours (except worse.) Twenty-five percent of women in London were prostitutes. The average age was sixteen. Alcoholism was an accepted norm. Children, as young as six-years-old were forced to work ten or twelve hours in horrible and sometimes dangerous conditions. Public hangings and displays of animal cruelty were forms of entertainment for drunken crowds. The slave trade was a very lucrative business in Wilberforce's culture.
But accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and God changed in his life. The most obvious change was Wilberforce's way he looked at everything. Suddenly he saw what he had been blind to before. He now saw things from God's viewpoint. He saw:
- God was real and that God loved everyone.
- The slave trade was not an economic necessity, it was horribly wicked.
- The idea of children working long hours, in awful was no longer acceptable.
For the first time in his life, Wilberforce was through God's eyes. But he was living in a culture where almost no one saw things this way. How you see things affects every area of your life! Do you see the prostitute as a wicked, immoral person or some one that God loves? Do you see the gang member as someone for whom Christ died? Do you see the poor a public nuisance or someone who needs God's love expressed in a tanglabe way?
Today, ask God to open your eyes to see the way He sees.
