In the eye of the beholder...

When I lived elsewhere, I would come home to Minnesota each summer for a couple of weeks to visit my mom and spend time with family here.  During that time, I always made a point of seeing each one of my aunts and uncles, because I missed them, and wanted them to know they were loved and cared about.  Usually I took the kids, because I wanted the kids to know their relatives, but sometimes I wanted the time just for myself.

On one such occasion, we were about to go back to Kansas City, and I knew my uncle was getting very fragile, so I wanted to see him one more time before we left.  He was in the nursing home, suffering from Parkinson's, and was getting increasingly frail.  He needed assistance with almost everything, and his life must have mostly been one frustration after another, because he was a very independent person.

He was in the dining room when I arrived, and he had his modified spoon strapped on to his hand.  He was struggling to eat, and I wanted to help him, but knew that he wouldn't want me to.  We talked a little bit, and then he said something I will never forget.  He swept around the room with his arm, then he said, "Look around you.  This is what it means to get old.  Enjoy what you have now, because this is not living."

He was very unhappy at that moment, totally focused on the flaws and failings of the people in that room, especially his own.  He was seeing everything he couldn't do any longer, and he was angry about it.  But that wasn't what I was seeing when I looked at him.  I was focused on his heart, where nothing had changed.  He still loved me, just as he always had.  And I loved him just as he was, just as I always had, because he was still that person to me.

I think God is the same way.  We focus on the flaws and failures, both our own, and in others, obsessing over what is wrong and how we are unworthy.  But God focuses on our soul.  He is interested in our intentions.  If we love him, trust in him, and accept Jesus as our Savior, he is there.  Nothing more required.  No matter how great the flaws.

Everyone knows Johns 3:16.  It is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, and is familiar even to those who know no other verses.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But that isn't actually the end of the thought.  It goes on to say something critical, which people often miss.  In verse 17, we are told,

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

God has loved us from the moment he created us.  He knows every weakness, but he still sent his only Son, his perfect beloved, to save our flawed selves, for no reason other than he purely loved us.  Instead of focusing on what we get wrong, I am grateful that God sees my heart and loves me in spite of my failing human nature.

Dear Lord, thank you for seeing my heart when it would be easier to see my actions.  Your love is incomprehensible, and I am grateful.  Amen.