Through Rose Colored Glasses

My car only has a radio and cassete player in it, so a lot of times I stick in a tape, because I hate commercials. So, the other day, I found an old tape my dad had left in there. I had no clue what was on it. When I stuck it in, my first reaction was to cringe. It was 80's Christian music. The sounds of the 80's....yeah. But, instead of taking it out, I left it in. After a while, I started to really listen to the words and I found myself crying. One of the songs was about God examining us through rose-colored-glasses. I had never really thought about that before. Then as He examines our hearts, His desire becomes for us. Wow. He would have to see through different eyes than mine or someone else's to fall in love with me. He sees the junk and stuff, but He doesn't see it the way someone else would. When He looks at us, He doesn't love us for how good we look, how intelligent we are, how well we can do (fill in the blank)...He loves us because He really doesn't see any of that. Does that make sense to you? Ok, let me enlighten you. As humans we tend to fall in love with the big, the grand, and the beautiful. The first things that catch our eye are usually things that aren't eternal. God looks at a severely handicapped young girl and smiles. His eyes light up and His hearts beats with love. He sees the gentle spirit, the kind personality, and her beautiful character. We tend to see what is in front of us. A handicapped girl, nothing more. We compare and contrast and she falls short in our minds. Yet, when Daddy God looks at her, He sees an eternity of joys and laughter. When we walk down the street and notice a group of "punks" heading our way, what do we do? We move aside. Why? Are we afraid? Is there some written rule that says, "Stay away from anyone with earings and pink hair"? Most people look at them and have one of two reactions. One, they look down on them and cringe. Two, they shrink away and try not to look. Yet, God stares at them blatently in the eye and smiles. He doesn't cringe. He doesn't shy away. He reaches out, longing to hold them in His arms. He follows them around. When they shut Him out, He weeps. His heart breaks for them. The wounds He bears from Calvary ache for them. We say we want to serve God with our 'whole heart' and yet we don't even understand His love. His love is the only thing that can win this world. Not by fancy words, not by pretty faces, not by free food...only the love of God. "For God so loved the world." Why? Why does God love the world so much? Why does God love the ones who wear shirts that say "Curse God" on them? Why does God love the ones who pray to Buddah over in Japan and China? Why does God love the ones who kill Christians and spit on their dead bodies before they walk away? Why? Because God loved. That's it. That's the answer. The real question is, when I stand before God on judgement day will the words "She Loved" be written beside my name? Will they be written beside yours? Until we learn to love, we have not learned anything. The greatest gift we could offer to anyone is love. Someone told me a story once. A missionary from Egypt can remember one particular day when he was just a boy in school. On this certain day the soldiers came to the school and held up a Bible and told the students they would have to spit on the Bible one at a time or they would die. They all did this accept for one little girl. She took the Bible and kissed it. One soldier took a sword and beheaded her right there in front of all those children. God's greatest commandment is to love. Will you kiss it or will you spit on it? This is a tough word, but I am tired of just handing out the fluff and the stuff. This isn't anything new. How can any of us expect to make it into Heaven if we haven't even learned how to love? Just think about it.