He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love
First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament
I read of some interesting recent comments from retired Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy the other day. In response to much of the political discourse in this nation in recent years, Kennedy encouraged others to remain calm in the face of those with differing political views. I found this surprising coming from a retired justice. In his time on the bench, I'm sure that Anthony Kennedy has heard plenty of cases involving our first amendment rights to free speech. To be honest, my first thought when I read of his comments were of the words we find in the First Epistle of John. It is here that we are reminded of the one true nature of God, that is love {First Epistle of John 4:8}. So I thought to myself, what if all of the Lord's children began to see each other in the way which the Father sees them? Of course, one would have to know ahead of time the truth of how it is that God sees us. How is it that God sees you? How does He see me? The apostle Paul speaks to our image, mirroring the Lords glory, in the book of Corinthians {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 3:18}. In other words, this is how the Father looks upon us. Not as a sinner, and definitely not as one in constant need of His forgiveness. For through Christ, that debt has been paid in full{Johns Account 3:16-17}. So, in all reality, we can assume that God sees us as His loved children created in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}. As Paul has proclaimed, we all mirror in appearance the glory of God. But there's a hitch to that knowing. Not everyone has the same vision as those who see those around them not as sinners, but as Gods loved child. We see them every day in all aspects of life. Those who degrade and demean others. Those who, through their words and behaviors, treat others with something which seldom resembles the love of the Father. Their eyes have yet to be opened to not only who it is that they are in the eyes of the Father, but how He sees those around them as well. The truth is that this is the key to displaying the Fathers love to others, to understand how it is that God sees them. How will we treat one we see as a sinner? Well, if you are a hardcore mainstream church member, you might see people such as this being in need of Gods punishment, not His mercy and love. This, of course, is one more lie spoken by those in the institutional church.
Now we all, with uncovered face, mirroring the Lords glory, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit
Paul to the Corinthians (2) 3: 18, Concordant New Testament
Notice that in Paul's words which we find in Corinthians, he references "We all" in his description of those mirroring the appearance of the glory of God. That's you and me, friends. THIS is how God sees His children. THIS is how God looks upon you. I think that if I were in that audience listening to Anthony Kennedy that day, I might have asked him one simple question. That being, how do you think God sees you? For if we look upon ourselves as condemned sinners, that is exactly how we will see Gods opinion of us as well. If we see ourselves as sinners, that is how we believe God looks upon us. This is fundamental to our own image of ourselves. A good example of this comes from my days lost in the addiction of pornography. In my many visits to local strip clubs, I did not see the women working there as children of God. I did not see them as mirroring His glory. This is the very false image of women given by that industry. Not as children of God, but as someone to be condemned for their behaviors. This is what makes it so difficult for us to see those around us as God sees them. For our own self image and biases get in the way of seeing their true image revealed in the Father's eyes. We can see this in everyday life in how we look upon homeless people, illegal immigrants and those of differing political opinions. Where is the love of the Father in these situations? Our prayer should not be that these people would come to God, but that we would see them through the eyes of the Father.
~Scott~
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