20/20 Vision

This week we spent some time with my extended family. My brother-in-law told us that my sister had looked in the mirror and said "Honey, I'm fat, I'm old and I see wrinkles, tell me something good about me." he replied "Well....You have 20/20 vision."

We all got a kick out of his little joke but that got me to thinking. If we took a good look at our life and used 20/20 vision, what would we really see? Would we see a compassionate self or a selfish one?  Would we see Christ in us or would we miss that mark? Could others see s difference in our life or would we "look like everybody else?"

As I sit here writing, my mom is in an adjacent room getting a chest x-ray.  Oh oh! What if beyond 20/20 vision, people could see inside our heart.  I am taken back to the time I said "no" to someone because I was too tired or worn out.  The idea is not that I said "no" but how I said it and in doing so, did I reflect Christ?

Once again I will be leading a Ladies Bible Study class this summer. Next week I will begin Bible Basics 101. I always go through a "questioning" period. "Am I good enough"  "Am I capable?" "With all I have going on, am I able?"

Part of that has to do with my 20/20 vision.  I see my frustration, I see my shortcomings, I see my fears.  The beauty of it, and my comfort, is that God can see my heart.  I don't have to know "what to tell those ladies!" God already knows.  I need to remember that while I am depending on my own eyes, God is working on the heart.  Regardless of what I "prepare" it is what the Holy Spirit delivers that will make a difference. 

We have a tendency to have 20/20 vision when we look for the negative in us.  Perhaps we need to focus more on the inner beauty and God's power in us.  So next time you look in the mirror, don't look for the outer traits, use that 20/20 vision to see how Christ is changing you on the inside. 

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17