Choosing God’s View

If you’ve read my book, you know I’m a great admirer of Brother Lawrence. His vision of God as perfect love has stayed with me more than almost anything else.

What struck me most in his writings was this paradox: he saw himself as a guilty sinner, and yet at the very same time as utterly beloved by God. Whenever he did something wrong, he didn’t spiral into shame. Instead, he turned immediately toward God, handed over his fault, and released himself completely from guilt.

It was as if Brother Lawrence chose to see himself through God’s eyes rather than his own.

I sometimes picture it like a windshield. Our tendency is to fixate on the dirt, to stare at the smudges until that’s all we can see. But for Brother Lawrence, the dirt was only a passing distraction. He noticed it, yes—but then he looked beyond it, into the clear view underneath. And in that clear, loving gaze, the dirt seemed to vanish as if by magic.

Maybe that’s the invitation for us, too: not to deny our faults, but to release them into God’s perfect love, and to live from the clarity of God’s view rather than our own.

What would shift in your life if, instead of fixating on the dirt, you learned to see yourself through God’s loving eyes?