Through Rose Colored Glasses

All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 (CEB)

God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 3:21 (CEB)

We have become righteous! God sees us (those who are saved) as righteous, how could that be? When I look at myself in a mirror, I only see me. I don’t see Jesus staring back at me…just me. How about you? I bet you see yourself as well.

We want others to see Jesus in us but do they? If you are living for Jesus day to day, being His hands and feet, sharing His story with others; then yes, someone else may see Jesus in you by your actions. Did you ever wonder how God the Father sees us when He looks at us? Oh my! I used to wonder about that…how could He see the new creation I had become for all the old dirt that was covering me. I just could not quite get a handle on that. I knew I was changed and I believed it, but to imagine God looking at me? No, I rather He didn’t look.

As I was listening to BBN (Bible Broadcasting Network) some years ago, I heard the speaker make a statement so simple, yet so profound that it changed how I thought about my image before the Father. That statement went something like this: ‘We all know what the old adage “looking through rose colored glasses” means. It means everything is tinged red or rose and takes on a whole new look. Now think about God seeing you through rose colored glasses!’

That literally changed my mindset! I now imagine God the Father looking at me as I stand in the free-flowing red blood of Christ and I am clean! As He looks at me through the shed blood of Christ I appear to him as righteous!

Jesus paid the ransom, the debt I could not pay to settle my life with His. I am forever seen through rose colored glasses! It is this willingness of God to see us at our very best that, by his grace, will afford us a place in his kingdom. Hallelujah!

If you too, have had difficulty seeing yourself as God sees you, my prayer is that this illustration will help clear up your mind and give you the same assurance it gave to me.