Looking Through God's Eyes

Small Group Discussion Guide

Based on the message by Pastor Chris Hufton

1. SERMON RECAP

In his message "Looking Through God's Eyes," Pastor Chris Hufton challenged the congregation to examine the lens through which they see their circumstances, the people in their lives, and God himself. He pointed out that our natural human perspective is rooted in self-protection, self-preservation, and self-promotion, all of which distort the way we see the world around us. Pastor Chris called the group to pursue the same attitude as Jesus Christ, seeing people and situations not through pain, offense, or pride, but through the redemptive, faith-filled perspective of the Father.

2. KEY SCRIPTURES

Philippians 2:2-5 (NLT) "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish, and don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had."

James 1:5 (NLT) "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking."

Psalm 119:18 (NLT) "Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions."

Galatians 5:25 (NLT) "Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives."

3. ICE BREAKER

Think of a time when you literally saw something differently depending on where you were standing or sitting. Maybe a sign only made sense from one angle, or a room looked completely different from a different doorway. Share what you noticed, and what it felt like when your perspective suddenly shifted.

4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Pastor Chris opened by describing how he had lived in his house for eleven years without realizing the kitchen light was shining directly in his wife's eyes. He used this as a picture of how blind we can be to someone else's experience without even knowing it. Where in your life right now might you be unaware of how someone else is experiencing a situation differently than you are?

2. Pastor Chris described three ways our flesh filters life through a self-centered lens: self-protection, self-preservation, and self-promotion. Which of these three tendencies do you find hardest to recognize in yourself, and why do you think that particular one is so easy to miss?

3. In Matthew 16, Jesus told Peter, "You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." Pastor Chris pointed out that even someone as close to Jesus as Peter could be completely sincere and still be looking at a situation through the wrong lens. How do you personally try to tell the difference between what God is saying and what your own emotions or reasoning are telling you?

4. Pastor Chris talked about the danger of carrying unresolved offense, comparing it to collecting things and lining them up, holding on rather than letting go. He said that offense clouds every other area of life, including how we see God, our future, and the people around us. Without naming anyone, is there an area of your life right now where you sense an offense may be shaping how you see things, even subtly?

5. He challenged the group to pray blessing over difficult people rather than cursing them, and to see broken people as restorable rather than dispensable. What makes that genuinely hard to do, and what has helped you in the past when you have managed to get there?

6. Pastor Chris said that our endurance grows through trials, and that God rarely works quickly by human standards. He encouraged the group to shift from asking why something is happening to trusting that God sees from the beginning to the end. What is one area of your life where you are currently being asked to trust God without yet being able to see what he is doing?

5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE

This week, identify one person in your life who is currently difficult to love or easy to write off. Each day for seven days, pray a specific blessing over that person by name, asking God to give you his perspective on who they are and what they might be going through. At the end of the week, write down one sentence describing whether or how your view of that person has shifted.

6. PRAYER POINTS

• Pray that God would reveal any blind spots in how group members are currently seeing their circumstances, their relationships, or their own hearts, and that he would replace those distorted views with his perspective.

• Pray for anyone in the group carrying a long-standing offense or wound, that the Holy Spirit would bring genuine healing and the grace to extend forgiveness, not because the other person deserves it, but because Christ extended the same to us.

• Pray for an increase in wisdom and endurance for those who are in a season of waiting, trusting God for something they have not yet seen, that their faith would not waver but would grow stronger through the delay.

7. MEMORY VERSE

Romans 12:2 (NLT) "Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Leader note: Give group members permission to be honest about where they are struggling. The goal of this discussion is not to produce the right answers but to create space for genuine reflection and authentic conversation. Follow the Holy Spirit's leading and do not feel pressure to get through every question.