Look in the mirror.
Who do you see?
To get to the root of this revelation let me take you back to Thessaloniki, Greece. It was a brisk Sunday morning and we’d arrived just hours before on an overnight bus from Athens. I was in Greece, and when in Greece there’s no way I was not going to attend an Orthodox Church service. So I set out and came to a local coffee shop where the barista gave me directions to a church just down the road.
It was simply majestic! The ancient architecture and iconography left me in absolute awe. I stood there, tears of pure joy and gratitude forming in my eyes, as I pondered the profound nature of this moment. To be raised Orthodox in America and now be standing in a church in Thessaloniki, Greece was a privilege and honor hard to put into words.
The service ended and I spent some time praying and just being with God in this place. I walked over to the icon of Jesus Christ and there I saw it… my reflection. As I gazed at His face in the icon and mine in its reflection it hit me. This is exactly how God sees us. When God looks at each and every one of us He sees the reflection of His Son first and then us. How else could a completely holy, majestic, and pure God even lay eyes on us sinful, broken, and impure people?
This revelation rocked me to the core. Consider the implications of living this perspective out in all realms of life. For one, shame, guilt, insecurities, etc. would have no place in your self-imagine because all God sees when He looks at you is His perfect, spotless, and blameless child. Talk about a fresh perspective on yourself!
Now take a second with me and look around.
If you’re like me right now you’re surrounded by people, and if you’re not you’ll shortly be so just bare with me. What do you see, or better yet who do you see? It’s selfish to keep such a revelation to ourselves so lets apply it on a grandeur scale. As God’s Children we’re constantly being transformed to look and be more and more like Christ, so I think it’s safe to say that this includes His eyes as well. With that in mind, when we see others shouldn’t we see Jesus first? Think about it, this changes things, big time.
I’ll talk about myself personally for a second. It’s disgusting and irrational how often I view others through this sinful, distorted worldly lens, judging them for this or that. Lets be honest, if God did the same with us we’d be, well, damned… literally. Thankfully this isn’t the case, so shouldn’t this teach us something?
Lets try out a new lens, what I have just now dubbed “The True Lens.” Sure people will mess up from time to time, reality is we’re all imperfect beings, but wouldn’t love be undeniable if we truly saw Christ in them? I mean we’d be seeing Love Himself, so this is the only response that logically makes sense!
Jesus’ command in John 13:34 to “love one another as I have loved you” has always seemed daunting to me, and justifiably so. We’ll never come close to loving others the way our Father loves us, just not possible. However, I believe that Jesus wasn’t giving us an impossible command to obey but rather a different point of view, His view.
As I write this I’m praying that you and I would begin to live this out not just from time to time but every second of every day. This is the reality that is reality, and its implications are huge.
Now look around you again.
Look in the mirror.
Who do you see?
