Rose Colored Glasses

I've often been asked by many mothers and wives, "How do I get my child/husband/person-who-is-tormenting-me to see and understand that what they are doing/thinking is wrong?"  And my answer is usually, "You don't."  That is the job of the Holy Spirit because most of the time, people are oblivious to ingrained behavior.  A prideful person is not capable of seeing their pride.  A habitual liar lives in their own reality, thus trying to make them see that they are a liar is futile.  The self-righteous are abysmally blinded to any avenue of humility because they already believe they are on it.  Some of the most prideful people I know, pride themselves on their "humility."  The pathological liar prides himself/herself on being a "straight-shooter."  The self-righteous pride themselves on being the "last bastion of faithfulness" to God's word.  You can't convince someone of their error when they are incapable of perceiving it. 

We need to see how ugly we are.  We need to gaze in the mirror at our hideous reflection and contemplate our wretchedness.  Unless you realize the degree of your human depravity, you cannot adequately appreciate the degree of God's mercy and grace for His impartation of righteousness through Jesus Christ.  We need to understand and fully embrace how inadequate we are.  We need to fully embrace our lowly status as creatures that have been made by a Creator.  We are creations, and fallen ones at that.  We need to face the depths our ignorance and the degree of our flaws.  We need to stand and examine our true reflection, before it is filtered by the face of Christ, so that when we contemplate His great sacrifice for us we give Him the worship He deserves.  One thing is for certain, as you truly grow in knowledge of God, you become more and more aware of just how wretched of a creature we truly are, and how great Christ's love for us was, for Him to die for us anyway. 

The lack of accurate spiritual vision in the pews today is staggering.  The degree of contrived humility from the pulpit is even worse.  One thing is for certain, if you think you know, you don't know.  Spiritually blind people think they know.  Those who are truly wise understand that they know nothing.  The truly wise never contemplate their own wisdom, because they are too focused on their fear of God.  A.W. Tozer said, "No man has truly repented until his sin has wounded him near to death, until the wound has broken him and defeated him and taken all the fight and self-assurance out of him and he sees himself as the one who nailed his Savior on the tree."  For us to even begin to exhibit the wisdom of God and have any degree of understanding, we must first be small and helpless in our own sight.  We must first sit in the dust and mourn our ignorance.

When Jesus admonishes the Church of Laodicea, He not only admonishes them for their lukewarm faith, but also their spiritual blindness and pride.  This is one of the most soul-rattling verses in Scripture to me.  The other one is when Jesus says "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 7:21).  Jesus tells people who call Him "Lord" to depart from Him, because they never truly knew Him.  People who knew enough to call Jesus "Lord" are told to go away because they were utterly blind to their spiritual nakedness.  This is both horrifying and humbling to me.  In their pride, those in the church of Laodicea say, "I am rich..." and have a false sense of security in their perceived spiritual wealth, "I don't need a thing..."  And Jesus brings down the hammer of truth to crush their illusion, saying, "You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev 3:17).  Unless you have ever realized that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, then I would seriously contemplate whether you have truly encountered the real Jesus of the Bible.  We come to Christ to be saved from our wretchedness, pitifulness, poorness, blindness, and spiritual nakedness because He is the only One Who can deliver us from our true condition.

There are things about you that other people can see but you can't.  There are things about God and things in Scripture that you don't rightly understand.  This is true for every single one of us.  Every single one of us is blind to something, because it is a testament to our shared fallen condition.  When I first started out in ministry, I was on fire for God.  Then, as I grew in understanding of Him and relationship with Him, that fire consistently dwindled until He had completely snuffed it out.  The fire I started out with had to go, because it was my fire, not His.  And anyone who thinks they are the exception to this rule, only proves the truth of Jesus' warning to the Laodiceans.  God had to snuff out my fire and let me sit in darkness for a little while, to test my heart and see what I would do.  Would I hold on in faith, even though it was dark and I couldn't see?  Even though He didn't turn out to be what I had imagined He'd be?  Even though I wouldn't serve Him the way I had imagined I'd serve Him?  Even though I couldn't see any way out of that darkness?  Even if when He lifted me out of that darkness, my job was to scrub feet?

We think we know, but we don't know.  We read verses like, "The greatest among you shall be your servant," and we think we understand, but we don't really understand.  We take that verse and try to put our vision onto it of what a servant should surely look like, what we think our "role" as servant should surely be.  We say, "Thy will be done, Lord," as long as it is acceptable and reasonable.  As long as we don't have to die.  As long as we can be the person we think we are.  But that is only vanity.  It is vanity wearing rose-colored glasses and a veneer of faith that calls Jesus "Lord" but has no true knowledge of Him.

I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.  Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be zealous and repent. (Rev 3:18,19)

It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:7,8)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure-- who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. (Jer 17:9,10)

So if I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:14-17)

Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt 23:10-12)