One morning, I was spending time with Jesus when He surprised me. He began to tell me how I was never a bother to Him. He told me He was always waiting to spend time with me—ME! I wasn’t an interruption in His busy schedule.
How often I felt God would show up for others easy-peasy but would only get around to me if He had extra time. You can probably guess why I would feel this way. My earthly father, bless his heart, was a very busy man doing the work of God for the church.
It’s easy for us to color our view of God by our earthly fathers. But that’s backward! God would rather have us use HIM as the standard. I know that no earthly person can measure up to the standard of God. But as I said, wanting God to be confined by our earthly measurements is backward. He is God!
The Creator of the universe, the Author of Life, is always available to us. That’s mind-blowing! Why would He want to spend time with me? Because I matter, you matter. He created each person who has ever lived or will ever live in complete uniqueness; no two are identical.
The beauty of this truth is that I get to choose what color lenses I use in my glasses. Will they be colored by a broken, fallen world? Sometimes, because we live in a broken, fallen world. Will they be rose-colored, showing us only the good and beautiful things? Maybe. But there is also a set of lenses that are spiritual in nature; they see things the way God does. These lenses have to be applied by God’s nature and His Word. We can’t apply them any other way. To know how God would view a person or situation, we have to know His Word and His character.
Well, this particular morning, God spent our time together loving on me. He showed me that I matter just the way He created me. I don’t have to look or dress a certain way; I don’t have to have a certain degree of education or even have much of an education. He will teach me what I need to know. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you. John 14:26
There is nothing wrong with looking at the world through rose-colored lenses, unless you’re sticking your head in the sand and refusing to see truth. We should try to give people the benefit of the doubt, unless it’s a toxic and dangerous situation. If that’s the case, you should do everything in your power to extricate yourself from it. We are not supposed to be doormats for the Kingdom of God.
So, ask God what lenses you should view each situation with. He will never steer us in the wrong direction. He wants to spend time with us, we are not a bother.