What Kinds of Lenses Do You View Life Through?

I wear eye glasses for distance. One thing that became abundantly clear to me was how much dirty glasses can affect your view. Similarly, we tend to view life through a set of lenses of sorts. They in turn determine how we view others.

What are our lenses in life? They are those filters through with we tend to view life and view others. For instance, racial prejudice is a lens. It causes us to judge others primarily by the color of their skin. It prevents us from seeing the true essence of a person.

Another lens that will distort our view is that of a superiority complex. Such a lens will cause us to see others as inferior to ourselves. This in turn has bearing on how we treat others.

In order to see things and people properly, we must view life through the right set of lenses. Otherwise, our view will be distorted. Here is what Jesus said about that:

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4, NASB).

Imagine trying to pull out a speck from someone’s eye when you have a log in your own eye. Of course, this is not to be taken literally. But the point is that sometimes, the same problem we are trying to correct in someone else’ life can be worse in our own life. We should fix the latter before we attempt to address the former.

The Faulty Lenses through Which I Viewed a Preacher

This reminds me of an experience I had at a local church I visited many years ago. After the choir had sung its final selection, we were waiting on the preacher to appear. For some reason, there was a lengthy delay before he came to the pulpit. In the meanwhile, everyone was looking around and staring at each other.

Eventually, the preacher came to the pulpit. He seemed to really struggle as he delivered his message. His sermon was short, and he seemed lethargic and unprepared. When I got home, I complained to my wife about how disappointing the worship experience was.

But—it so happened that the next day as I went walking, I passed by a dialysis center. And whom did I see going in there but that preacher who was preaching the previous night. He was being taken in as a dialysis patient! I tell you; I felt much remorse for having judged him the previous night. I am certain that if I had known his medical condition before he stood to preach, I would have had a totally different attitude toward his performance.

After seeing him go into the dialysis center, I realized it probably took a lot for him to preach the few minutes that he had. The problem was not with his performance. But it was the flawed lens through which I viewed his preaching.

So, what kinds of lenses are you viewing life through? Jesus warns us against unfairly judging others. As we study His teachings, they will challenge the way we view life and view others. The proof that we are taking heed is that our views of others are changing for the better.

Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.