The Lens of Love

Happy Sunday. It's been over 20 years, and I remember it vividly. I was at my office at Acrian Baptist Church in Acrian, Mississippi, when I received a phone call from the local hospital. A lady was dying, and the family wanted someone to perform the last rights. Could I come?

The church was under a mile to the hospital, and I got there quickly. I never had met these people before. I wasn't too sure what I would say. I'm not a Catholic priest; I never had done the last rights before.

I forgot what I said, but I'll never forget what I saw. The woman was in her last minute. She was Skin and Bones. I'd never seen anyone so emaciated before, but that isn't what I remember the most.

What I remember was her son holding her hand, kissing her forehead. While I saw Skin and Bones, he saw his mother. She was beautiful to him. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

All of us, in one way or another, have special lenses that we filter life through. We think our kids are the best and the most beautiful, and later on in life we think our grandchildren are the best and the most beautiful. We see people that we love very different than we see the average Joe.

I read a story of a man that murdered his family, wife and two young children. His mother was quoted in the article I read, and she said, "He's not the monster people are portraying him to be. I love my son no matter what. I want to fight for him." She loves her son. She sees him through lenses that no one else sees him through.

That's the way we are. We see our loved ones in a special way. Have you ever wondered how God sees us? How God sees you?

You perhaps remember when young David was chosen to replace Saul as king. We find the story in 1st Samuel chapter 16. Let me read a little bit from there.

"Now the Lord said to Samuel, 'You have mourned long enough for Saul. I've rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I selected one of his sons to be my king.' But Samuel ask, 'How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.' 'Take a heer with you,' the Lord replied, 'and say that you've come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I'll show you which of his sons to anoint for me.'

"So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the Elders of the Town came trembling to meet him. 'What's wrong?' they asked. 'Do you come in peace?'" They were scared of King Saul. "'Yes,' Samuel replied. 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.' Then Samuel performed a purification right for Jessie and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice too.

"When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Elab and thought, 'Surely this is the Lord's anointed.' But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I've rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord, the Lord looks at the heart.'" David was then chosen.

Here we see that God sees the heart. The word heart here really means the Inner Man, the whole person. Looks have nothing to do with the way God sees us.

Now you may be worried about that and think, well, if God sees the inside, we're all in trouble. I mean, we can take a bath and dress up the outside, but the inside, we can't fool God. I've got some good news.

Let me stick with David for a bit. In his life, when he finally became king, did he mess up? Was there something that happened that was sorted? If you answered his affair with Basba, you're right.

Now, after God dealt with David for his sin, David and Basba had a son. His name was Solomon. Solomon is described as the wisest man in his day. Solomon built the temple for God that David wasn't allowed to build.

After he finished the building, I want you to see what God told Solomon in First Kings chapter 9. I'll read the first five verses.

"When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the King's house and all that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibian. The Lord said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and your plea which you made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built and put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

"'As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with Integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your Royal Throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, "There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel."'"

Let me read part of verse four and part of verse five again. I don't want you to miss this, what God said about David. Now, this is again after the Bath Sheba incidents. God said to David's son, "If you will walk before me as David your father walked, with Integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I've commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your Royal Throne over Israel forever."

Do you notice how God sees David here? Where's the sin? Where's the stain? Where's the failure? It's gone.

To God, David is beautiful, because David confessed his sin and moved on. And now God sees David as a man of Integrity, a man that's upright, and a man that's obedient. Here's the key: when we come to God asking for his forgiveness, when we come to God willing to repent, when we come to God ready to move on, he will see us differently.

Let me read to you part of Psalm 103. This is a Psalm of Praise about forgiveness and how God sees us. There we read:

"Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that's within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and do not forget all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in his steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

"For as the heavens are high above the Earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him."

Psalms 103. Want to guess who wrote Psalm 103? David. Happy Sunday.

Pray with me. Father, thank you for the way you see us as your children who have confessed Jesus as Lord and asked for forgiveness of our sin and turned from our ways and repented and walking with you. Help us to be thankful that you've removed our past as far as the East is from the west, and help us to show that love to the world around us that desperately needs us, needs you.

Father, thank you for your love, for the way you look at us. Help us to know that you're just so in love with your children. Thank you, Father. In Jesus name, amen.

God bless. Have a great week.