Righteousness and Faith

Everyone sees other people, particularly righteous people, through the lens of their own spirit. People who are not trustworthy mistrust someone like me, even though I could be trusted with anyone's money, anyone's wife, anyone's kids, or anything else. I'm trustworthy because I trust in the Lord fully, which is to say I know what it means to trust. Anyone who doesn't trust God can't really trust themselves either, so they're not going to be able to trust anyone who is actually trustworthy; though they may trust others who are not trustworthy because they are like themselves. People who don't know what it's like to be loved, especially by God, are not able to love others unconditionally, because they're not practiced at love. Neither do they believe that anyone who truly loves people unconditionally is real. Yet they will believe that those who are like themselves have love. That is true because they haven't yielded themselves to the unconditional love of God for themselves.

People who are not faithful in their marriage are going to be suspicious of their spouses about the same thing, unless it's okay with them that their spouses are unfaithful as well. People who are prone to steal are always going to be paranoid that someone may steal from them, because they are viewing people through a lens of stealing. The religious people who rejected Jesus said that he had a devil, but the reason for that was that they were the children of the devil, even as Jesus told them (Jn. 8:44,52). That is why they rejected Jesus, because they saw him through the lens of their own spirit. What they accused him of being was exactly what they were. I've been amazed at this spiritual malady ever since I've been in Christ. The devil loves to provoke those who are under his power to accuse an innocent person of exactly what they themselves are guilty of.

The only way to see people and situations clearly is to be purified in one's heart by the holy Ghost, and thereby view things through the lens of God's Spirit instead of one's own spirit. Jesus explained these things to us like this: “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Lk. 11:34-36). The only way for darkness not to be present in us is if we are filled with the light of God, which is his Spirit.

If we're filled with God's love and Spirit then we can always view other people with hope and potential, and we will always be able to see the good in others, because we have been filled with God's goodness and hope. Jesus warned us to not "judge according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24). If we fail to accept God's mighty love for us that has been demonstrated through Christ, and we are not filled with his Spirit, then we are doomed to view people through the lens of our own spirit rather than through the lens of God's Spirit; and thereby judge them according to the appearance, and not according to righteous judgment. We will never see anyone clearly, including ourselves, as long as we view everything only through the lens of our own spirit. Amen