When I was in college, I volunteered regularly at an inner-city boys and girls club. There was a 6-year-old boy named Devonte who seemed to latch on to me every day. He always asked me questions about where I grew up and what I liked on my ice cream.
One day when I arrived, I went straight to Devonte to say hi. He immediately grabbed my glasses, put them on, and tried to walk around the room. The only problem was that he couldn’t see and kept bumping into things as he tried to find his way around. It didn’t help that I also kept bumping into things trying to catch him because I could no longer see. It was quite the comedy.
It took a while for me to convince him to give my glasses back and when he did, I asked him a question. "Why didn't you want to give them back? Wasn’t it hard to see?"
“Dusty, when I have your glasses on it makes me like you and I feel like you and that’s cool!”
How Does God See My Family?
Sometimes I wonder if we parents look at our families through the wrong pair of glasses. We get so focused on being the “perfect family” that we try and see our family through the “perfect lens.” Unfortunately, this distorts our family view and makes us stumble through life trying to be someone we aren’t.
If I were to ask you this question, how would you answer?
When God looks at your family, does he grin or grimace?
I believe too many parents believe God grimaces. Why do we feel like that? Because we are looking through the wrong lens.
We forget that there is nothing we can do to make God love our family more.
When you look at your family, remember these biblical truths.
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God is the source of love. In fact, God is love. It’s not just an action for him but an inherent characteristic. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
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John 5:20 tells us that God the Father loves the Son, which means he has always loved him since he is infinite. Then in John 15:9, Jesus says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Wow! Can you imagine the endless amount of love God has for us?
When we look at our family through the lens of what our world thinks is a perfect society, we will miss the beauty that is right in front of us. Through God’s lens, we can see his love for our family is tremendous, imperfections and all. Build your family on that love and strive to be the family God wants you to be.
Try on God's glasses. You may be surprised at what you see.
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