Because of my positive attitude, I have been accused of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. What those who say that don’t understand is that I see the same things they see; disease, crime, hate, injustice and a seemingly endless variety of sins. The difference is I am not affected by it as they allow themselves to be. How is that possible?
One reason is that the Holy Spirit continues to remind me this is not my permanent home. None of those things can exist in the full presence of God in His kingdom that is my future home. Another reason is that I look beyond those negative things and focus my attention on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. (See Philippians 4:8) That is easy for me to do because I have so many wonderful Christian friends in my life who are not a part of all of the negativity. Finally, we may seem to be outnumbered by evil at the present time, but I have sneaked a peek at the last chapter and I know how the story ends. God is Holy and all powerful. Evil cannot and will not win.
“For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:16) Holy is not a word we normally use to describe ourselves. We know every sin, mistake and wrong we have done. We know the stains, scars and blemishes those actions have left on us and on others. The enemy is quick to remind us about any of them we try to forget. Our hymns and worship songs declare that God is holy. Jesus even calls His Spirit within us the Holy Spirit; but me be holy? No way!
Mary Hollingsworth has an interesting take on the holiness of Christians. She writes that God looks at His sons and daughters through crimson lenses, stained by the blood of Jesus. He can’t see our past sins and mistakes because they are covered by that blood. As a result, when He looks at us He sees us as holy. She concludes that when we look into our mirror, we should see what our Father sees through His rose-colored glasses.
God sees us as holy, but He also knows we are not perfect even after accepting Christ as our savior. As Christians, we need to recognize our sins, mistakes and wrong decisions and repent of them. By listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us and obeying Him, we will have fewer and fewer things for which to repent, but we won’t be perfect as well as holy in God’s eyes until we enter that perfect mansion He has prepared for us.