And Jesus said unto him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, “Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, That is God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother.
Rose-Colored glasses
Sometimes, even as Christians, we forget who is really in charge here, God our creator. In this scripture, a certain ruler asked Jesus this question about what he would have to do to receive eternal life. Jesus said in verse 17, “Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter Heaven.”
In other words, we must have the faith as a little child, trusting, accepting, obeying and believing in Jesus Christ by living a lifestyle that is strictly by God’s standards.
Sometimes I feel that we are looking at the world God created through “rose-colored glasses.” What I am referring to is that we tend to turn a deaf ear to the things God is trying to tell us. We sometimes have selective hearing and selective sight. We often want to sugarcoat things we don’t want to hear. There is only one way to get into Heaven and that is through His son, Jesus. It is easy to say, “I am a good person, and so I am going to Heaven when I die.” Being a good person and treating others right is a great thing to do, but that alone will not get anyone eternal life. Satan tries to deceive us in believing that we will go to Heaven just by being good.
When this happens, we look at our lives through those “rose-colored glasses.” We see everything as we want to see it and not how things really are. Maybe a better way to put it is that we tend to deny the things in our lives that we do not want to accept.
Did this ruler actually hear what Jesus was saying to him? Did he really hear those commandments Jesus was telling him about? This was a very rich ruler and the Bible does not name him, but Jesus said that this ruler lacked one thing; that he was to sell all that he had and distribute it to the poor. Jesus then told him he would surly have treasure in Heaven, and to follow after Him. Was this ruler looking at his life through rose-colored glasses also? Whether we are rich, poor, black, white, red, or yellow, God loves all of us. Not one person is better than the rest. Grant it, there may be people who are nicer than others, friendlier than others, and even those who have more money than some. However, those things do not make us better than the person who may not have a job or may have to stand in line for food stamps. We all have problems at times. The point here leads to this question.
Where would we be if Jesus Christ looked at us through rose-colored glasses? Have you ever thought about what God really feels about us? I often think about God’s feelings. We know that he hurts like we do; especially when we fall out of His will. Let us picture God sitting high on His throne in Heaven for a few minutes. Now picture Him putting on a pair of “rose-colored glasses?” When Jesus died on Mount Calvary for the sins of the world, He saw us as we are; nothing more than His creation and sinners who needed to be saved from Hell. He looked beyond our faults and saw our needs instead. As Christians should take off the rose-colored glasses and see the world as it truly is. We cannot change the world; we can only try to make it a better place to live. The good news is that we are not going to live here forever. Friends, it pays to know the Lord personally as your Savior. The biggest blessing is to know that you will have a peace when you put your head down at night on your pillow, knowing that if Christ returned like a thief in the night; unexpected, then your soul is safe in His hands. Have faith, live faith, pray and love God and love the people he places in your life. Take off those rose-colored glasses you may be putting on daily in life and look clearly to God; as the one who loves you, can heal you, can do miracles in your life and so much more. We are never going to be perfect here on earth, but through faith and obedience we can get pretty close. Heaven is beautiful enough; we do not need to see it any other way, especially through “rose-colored glasses’.
Inspirational Journeys is written by:
Charlotte K. Berger
Contact her at: cberger@thecherawchronicle.com.
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