Friday Fight 17 - See Through

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in the mind. Today is FF17.

How annoying is it when trying to see with scratched eyeglasses or wearing dry contacts? Any slight variation in either lens changes the way we see things. Similarly, we all have a natural lens, how we perceive situations around us. Unfortunately, destructive things skew our perspective or change this natural lens: death, divorce, abuse, addiction, and many other hurts. Just how different is our view after being deeply hurt? Sadly, the pain we carry in our hearts negatively impacts our focus on ourselves and others, which is the "focus" of this lesson (tiny smile).

Which Lens do you See-Through?

As Christians, imagine our view of the world is through a concave lens, God's light focusing outward. When we are wronged and do NOT forgive, our hearts become contaminated. Over time, those hurts also change the lens we see through, moving our focus inward. This new lens focuses only on our pain and resembles a convex lens. The more we focus on ourselves with pity and anger, the more darkness degrades us, negatively impacting our perspective even more.

God encourages us to reflect His love through forgiveness. However, unforgiveness enables the enemy to manipulate our minds provoking anger and hatred from these hurts. This lens change contaminates our view so we blame others, not seeing any faults of our own. This "blurred" lens also causes us to question God's love for us, so we act and react differently. Without realizing it, people will blame everyone else for all the wrongs in their life.

How do we fight? Pray about your lens. Be aware of how you view things or if you tend to blame others, particularly in stressful situations. Be mindful of how overly focused you are on past hurts. Admitting faults shows humility; denying them gives birth to pride, the destroyer of many things. Also, pray about any unforgiveness. If you can forgive but can't forget, give it to God. The process of self awareness allows healing. Forgiving enables us to see people and situations with a healthy lens, as God intended.

Pastor Shannon
New Life Church