What Glenn Writes

My son was just two years old before he received his first haircut.  That’s right, the little hippie had two year’s worth of growth on his head before I could convince his mother, my beautiful wife, he was old enough to get a haircut. 

 
Some children come into this world with a thick mop of hair ready to be gelled and styled into the latest nursery fashion; others go almost a year with a few strands resembling Charlie Brown in the Peanut’s cartoon.  Luke fell somewhere in between on the hair scale. 

His transformation from the hip, radical, long-haired beatnik of the play group to clean cut, crew-top bruiser happened in our kitchen, under the watchful eyes of his mother and two sisters.  Now his mother was not completely convinced of my abilities with the newly acquired hedge clippers… I mean, hair clippers.  As his hair vanished from his head, so did my wife’s vision of her baby boy always remaining a baby and never growing up; as the locks fell, the tears fell. 

Luke, however, loved the sound of the buzzing clippers mowing across his scalp.  I expected fear, crying, and jumping around as he attempted to get away from the weird noise; instead he grinned, laughed, and played with the clumps of hair falling into his lap. 

From his mother’s perspective, her baby was changing into a small boy right in front of her eyes.  From Luke’s perspective, he was the center of attention for the entire family, he found some new stringy stuff to play with, and Dad was using something to tickle his head. 

Two contrary views of the same event.

These differing positions remind me of the perspective we have in our relationship with God.  We each have our own view of who we are, an image of ourselves.  I wonder how close this perspective is to how God sees us?  What is His viewpoint on our lives?

First, let’s realize God sees all things in our lives.  He sees what is unseen by others and what we do privately.  We find this in Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  The last portion of this verse is supported throughout the Bible and literally means God sees all things in our lives. 

His understanding of our lives goes beyond just seeing what we do, he recognizes our intentions.  The last part of 1 John 3:20 tells us, “…For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”  If the Lord knows what is in our hearts, then He knows what we do and why we do what we do.

This is a tough concept.  I prefer to look at myself with an ideal view as the perfect husband, the perfect father to my children, and a good buddy to my friends.  I like to think I am an excellent worker.

Should I remember I was ten minutes late for work last week, took a personal telephone call longer than I should have, and checked my personal email on company time? 

Should I remember not calling my buddy back when I knew he was going to ask for a ride to the airport or for help fixing his car? 

Should I remember becoming impatient with my daughters when they continued to giggle after bedtime or with my son when he gives me a bad attitude when I ask him to take out the trash? 

Should I remember not calling my loving and trusting wife when I knew I was going to be home late?  Should I remember venting my work frustrations out on her?

I doubt I would ever call myself perfect, whether verbally or by thought.  Yet the image I have of myself is flawless.  My ego and pride paint a perfect picture, and this vision is the motivating force behind many of my actions: it is my perspective on life. 

Knowing the Lord sees all of my actions and knows the selfish intentions in my heart, my perspective must be far different than His.  And in spite of all this, He still loves me. 

We can find this truth in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

As I take off my rose colored glasses and get a real glimpse of my imperfections, I suddenly realize the depth of His love for me.  Sometimes this is tough for me to accept.

When being a Christian is tough, are you tough enough?

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Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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