Why I Like My Glasses a Little Bit Dirty

This has happened to me twice:

You see, I'm near-sighted (I think). What I mean is, I can't see things that are very far away. So, yes, I wear glasses - especially when I'm driving or in a classroom or something. There have been a couple times where I was running around, goofing off with my buddies, and one of lenses of beautiful, clean glasses just...falls out (I don't get the most expensive glasses). Here's the problem: since I only need them to see things far away, if my glasses are perfectly clean, sometimes I won't notice that I'm missing a lens until I'm trying to see something that I normally can't. *boom* Here comes panic! But by then, it's too late. That lens is looong gone, usually to never be found again.

So from these couple of experiences, I've developed a philosophy: If I keep my glasses just a little bit dirty, I'll notice when there's not that speck floating beneath my left eye anymore; or that ever-so-slight ketchup stain in the corner of my right lens. And the best part? I normally don't have to TRY to dirty my glasses, it just kind of happens. As I walk through life and try to correctly see the things around me by wearing my glasses, they tend to get a little mucky.

Strangely enough, through my semi-clinically-insane approach to vision, God has taught me theology! As I was meditating over my dirty glasses the other, the Lord brought to mind the verse: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." -1 Corinthians 10:12

DISCLAIMER: I am BY NO MEANS endorsing sin or the pursuit of sin through the thing I'm about to say; I'm endorsing a radical pursuit of the Lord characterized by going deeper and deeper into our hearts and surrendering each part to Him.

Having the appropriate lenses in life is an important thing. Having a God-perspective characterizes followers of Jesus; it is required to have some sort of heavenly vision to call yourself a child of the Heavenly Father! I think that every born-again believer gets a new pair of glasses when they come into that blessed new life. These glasses are through the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible tells us reveals truth to us (John 16:13): it shows us right from wrong, real from fake, important from worthless, the Shepherd from the Wolf - without this new vision, we'd surely be destroyed quickly as babes in the Word!

But reading through the Psalms, there seems to be one more thing this God-vision does: it turns inward, revealing to us the things that are right and wrong. It reveals the true nature of our heart and reminds us what areas we ought to be warring in prayer for. One thing about this glorious light we receive: it reveals the disgusting c-r-a-p that's in our hearts. No fun! But beneficial, and important nonetheless.

John tells us in his epistle, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." -1 John 1:10. I want to use this and the verse from Corinthians about "taking heed" to encourage us to all check our lenses once and a while to not be afraid to jump into the c-r-a-p in our hearts, and let the glorious truth of the Holy Spirit clean them out.

First of all, let's acknowledge a truth. We/you/I are/is not Jesus and can/will/may not have the blessing of living a life absolutely free from sin until the day we see Jesus and are transformed into his image. There is no earthly perfection; and if you think there is, you have pride - go repent. We are human, and we have a flesh that wars against our spirit (Most of 1 Peter, Romans, and 1 John 1:10). Unless our righteousness is as great as God's, we have sin. Period. Did you speak things into existence? Okay then, we have sin.

Now, if we are actively following the Holy Spirit and keeping our God vision, the bottom line is, we're going to get things on our glasses. We're walking out our faith in a dirty world, and things are bound to hop up there that we'll have to allow the Lord to cleanse us from. So if we ever find ourselves in places where we're walking through life and think our glasses are just perfectly clean all the time, we might want to make sure our lenses is still there!

I do not enjoy God bringing up new sin in my life, but I have learned to appreciate the fact that "whom the Lord loves, he rebukes and chastises." So when he goes deeper in my heart, shows me more change that needs to take place, teaches me new things to live out in the Lord, and shows me new areas to become more like him - I know I'm still following him, I know we're still going deeper, and I know I still have my lenses in! So I would encourage you, Beloved, appreciate the convicting words of the Lord - rejoice in them, and follow them! Never stop going deeper - and realize that when you do, things will get a little messy.

And this, my friends, is why I like my glasses a little bit dirty.