A couple years back, after having worn the same pair of glasses for ten years, I decided that it was time to get some new ones. And when I did, what a difference it made! Things that I had accepted as blurry and faded were now crystal clear. I did not realize how I had lost sight of what things were supposed to look like.

One fine morning, a Christian brother reminded me to put on my “God glasses.” What he was telling me was to look through life through the eyes of my Lord, rather than my own fuzzy perspective of things.

Putting on “God glasses” is a key #wholelifeworship concept.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23 that our eyes (perspective) are lamps to the body. If our eyes are good (that is, seeing from God’s perspective), then our lives will be filled with light. But if our eyes are bad (that is, seeing from our own or the world’s perspective) then our lives will be filled with darkness. Then Jesus adds for further emphasis: “And how great is that darkness!” meaning that everything we perceive will be distorted.

Can you imagine what life would be like if everything you perceived was distorted – and didn’t realize it? An Air Force pilot tragically experienced this when she was flying upside down but thought she was right side up (which can easily happen, flying at supersonic speeds). When she pulled “up”, the jet plummeted down; crashing to the earth. @dallaswillard #divineconspiracy

Likewise there are times when our perception can be fuzzy: we don’t know what end is up, we aren’t sure which choice is good or bad. We forget there is an enemy who wants to fake us into making poor decisions. We lose sight of the fact that the world influences our values more than we’d like. These things can lead us into darkness and destruction. Only God’s glasses give correct perspective; they lead us on the path to life.

Putting on God’s glasses requires proactivity and discipline. When I first got glasses at the ripe age of 13, I kept forgetting to put them on. Sometimes I didn’t want to put them on, lest people think I was a geek (not that they didn’t think I was one anyway!) It took a couple years of bad headaches and missed homework assignments (written on a chalkboard that seemed miles away) that I finally ate humble pie and started wearing my glasses – faithfully.

How do we put on God’s glasses? Here are some ideas:

1. Approach each day with wanting to do God’s will in mind. Jesus taught his disciples to pray right off the bat: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Too often our prayers are attempts to get God to see things our way, rather than trying to see things God’s way. When you sincerely pray, “Lord, I want Your will to be done in my life today – more than anything else” you will begin to see things as God does.

2. Look for God to be at work around you – and join in. In John 5 Jesus said, “My Father is always at work.” Jesus was not making a platitude; He meant it. God is at work all the time, around us, if we are willing to see. And when we see God at work, we join in what He is doing. That interruption might be a divine appointment. That inconvenience could be a God-opportunity.

3. Stay in community with God’s people. We don’t have the complete picture by ourselves. We need others in the community of faith to help guide us. God’s perspective comes by being connecting to Christ’s Body. We need others (prayer partners, mentors, accountability partners, small group members) who can remind us on a regular basis to look through life with God glasses. They may not be right all the time, but chances are they will be right more often than us, limited by our own perspective.

So how’s your view of life? If it’s fuzzy, out of focus or hopeless, you’re in need of a new set of lenses – God’s glasses! Put them on and enjoy the clarity that comes from a Whole Life Worship perspective.

“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see You.”

(Open the Eyes of My Heart by Paul Baloche)