Are You Wearing Your Spiritual Glasses?

The God-kind-of-love chooses to think only the best of others. It refuses to think negative, critical, judgmental and condemning thoughts about people. The God-kind-of-love sees people the way God sees them: people of value, people of worth, each carrying seeds of destiny. The God-kind-of-love waters those seeds with encouragement and acts of kindness. It looks past the rough, messy exterior and instead focuses on who these people will become when given the God-kind-of-love to grow in. The God-kind-of-love never keeps records of wrongs. It cheerfully forgives, refusing to be offended. It loves even when that love is not returned. The God-kind-of-love builds others up. It will not tear down and destroy. It operates in grace, mercy, gentleness and humility, all the while shaping and molding another into the person God has called them to be. The God-kind-of-love serves even those society has rejected and always puts the interests and needs of others ahead of self.

The God-kind-of-love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit living within His children. It flows freely when they are yielded to Him and overflows out of their lives on all who pass by. Wrong attitudes and wrong thoughts towards others block the flow of this God-kind-of-love and keep God's children from seeing people the way God sees them. These wrong attitudes and thoughts must be repented of. They do not line up with God's attitudes and thoughts towards people. They will keep a believer from walking in the God-kind-of-love. They will keep his heart bound to the world's way of thinking and the world's kind of love.

The battle for victory in this area of life is fought and won in the arena of the mind. Believers must take EVERY thought captive in obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). There is no place for criticism, judgment, and condemnation in the mind of a believer. They are tools of the enemy. As believers, we MUST refuse to side with the enemy and shut him out when he comes to the gate of our minds with negative thoughts towards others. We cannot take a passive stance in this battle. We must be diligent warriors. We must choose to put on our spiritual glasses every day and see people the way God sees them. We must let go of our dislikes and the issues that bother us about others and surrender them at the foot of the cross. We are all imperfect and all in need of change in our lives to become more like Christ, so therefore, none of us are qualified to judge. We must leave the changing of others and their issues in the hands of the One who is capable, the Holy Spirit.

In surrendering our need to point out others faults, and in repenting of our wrong thoughts and actions, we may be surprised to find out that the people in our lives are not really the problem afterall. As the blockers are removed and the God-kind-of-love begans to flow, we often discover that there has been some pretty nasty stuff hiding in our own hearts, that has caused us to blame others for things we are guilty of. In the pattern of broken relationships and negative situations we keep finding ourselves in, WE are the common link, not other people. God wants to purify our hearts, cleanse them and heal them so He can fill them with the God-kind-of-love to bless others.

God wants to fill us with His God-kind-of-love, but we must take the first step by repenting of the wrong thoughts and attitudes we have allowed in our hearts. We must choose to take an active stance in the battle for our minds. We must choose everyday to put on our spiritual glasses. Then, and only then, will we be able to see people the way God sees them and love them the way God loves them.

Blessings,
Rev. Jennifer Ritchie