How To See Grace

Posted by Mike Foster I wear glasses.

Not because I wanted to be called “four-eyes” two decades ago. Not because I wanted to be called a “hipster” today. But because I need them to see.

Yet, very rarely do I notice the black stems framing my vision or feel the nosepieces that anchor them to my face. It’s only when I find myself without them, fumbling around in a fuzzy haze that I ask myself, “Where are my glasses?"

That begs the question—if something so simple, yet so essential can go unnoticed so easily, what else am I missing? What are we overlooking? More importantly, as receivers of the scandalous grace of Jesus Christ, what gifts are going unappreciated and unshared because they have become normalized to us? Philip Yancey has thought about it this way,  “Grace is everywhere, like lenses that go unnoticed because you are looking through them.”

The grace of God is as precious as it is limitless. And I remember how liberating it was to realize and experience my desperate need for God’s grace for the first time. It was as if everything I was fumbling around to find was placed gently over my eyes, clarifying the world around me.

In the same way, God has opened all our eyes to see through the lens of His love for us. Yet the longer we live as His child, the more normalized this lens of grace becomes and the less aware we are of the price that was paid for us to look through it. But the moment we find ourselves out of sight of His grace, there we are again, half-blind and fumbling around, searching for what we thought was just in front of us.

If you’re there, let this be a reminder of the abundantly precious commodity that is God’s grace:

Pick up your glasses. Look at your world differently than you did yesterday. Yesterday, clarity was the norm. You didn’t even think about your glasses. But today, you know you need it. Grace can work the same way. It’s always right there, ready for you to pick up, put on, and use to clarify your world. And when you know you need it, you’re more prone to share it.

Pick up God’s grace today. Put it on. Don’t stumble around; it’s right in front of you. Right at the tip of your nose.

Like glasses.

Mike Foster is the founder of People of the Second Chance and the author of Freeway: A Not So Perfect Guide To Freedom. He lives in San Diego with his family and fluffy dog.