Daddy's Eyes part 3
How Daddy sees you is how you need to see yourself. Because Daddy is the light that reveals your TRUE self. Look at Deuteronomy 32:9-10, "For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." We talk a lot about OUR inheritance, or OUR portion. But look at GOD'S portion... US. Which means, as simply as I can put it, that our inheritance is HIM. And notice this: HE found us. We weren't even looking for Him. We were piling up trouble and heartache looking for love in all the wrong places. We were running FROM Him instead of running to Him. We were wandering in the wilderness. We were in the desert of sin. If--and that's a pretty big if--we had even heard of the Promised Land we surely didn't know where it was (WHO it was) or how to get there. But that has never stopped God. In fact, "...God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Why? Because He loves us. Unconditionally. All of the time. When we weren't even looking for Him... we were still the apple of his eye. He saw us for who we ARE, not for what we were doing. He SEES us. With the eyes of grace. Noah found grace in the EYES of the Lord, because that's where grace is found. Grace is how we see clearly. Grace is what happens when the light shines and reveals things as they truly are. And isn't that ironic? Because we seem to think we need to, "expose sin." We think we're supposed to be on a sin hunt, and bring all of the bad things to light. But guess what: When the light shines, the darkness flees. It doesn't HIDE, it disappears! God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. Jesus is the light of the world. And so am I. And so are you. So if grace is what happens when that light shines... then grace is what allows us to see--ourselves, and each other--clearly. Not the surface stuff, but the deep stuff. Sometimes people need to wander around a little bit before they find where they belong. And that's ok. Everybody is on a journey, but everybody's journey is different. (Let me just insert here that in truth we have already arrived. We ARE where we need to be. Sometimes it just takes some time to figure out where we are.) I think what I'm trying to say today is: When I look at you through the eyes of grace, not judging you but accepting and celebrating you, THAT'S when I see you for who you really are. I think so many times people disappoint us because we have unrealistic expectations. They aren't who we want them to be so we end up missing out on who they are. Daddy knows exactly who you are. I'll say it again, you're the apple of His eye. You're His favorite (and so am I), because you (and I) are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Guys... knowing that true identity equips and empowers you to BE who you are. To stop trying to be someone you're not and to just BE yourself. The self that God fearfully and wonderfully made. The self that God loves so much... that He would rather die than be without you!