When I think of the beach, I think of scenes like the picture I have included with this blog post. I think most people prefer a room with a view of the beach rather than the parking lot or the dumpsters. Likewise, when I actually go out on to the beach, I like to have a good view of the water. I think very few people, if any, prefer to set their chairs and towels up on the beach facing away from the water.
Without sand and water, the beach really is not the beach at all.
If all I knew of the beach was the dumpster view of one of the rooms, I most likely would not care much about going. This is the same with anything in life. My view of something determines my interactions with it. If I think the beach is boring and trashy, I will not want to go to the beach.
How I view others determines how I treat them.
This beach view example applies to people as well. How I view others determines how I interact with them. If I believe children are generally undisciplined and a nuisance, I will not want to be around them. I may get angry if required to be around them. If I view people who are different than me as threatening, I will fear them. This would lead to avoidance and potentially even violence in some cases. If I view my wife as someone who is supposed to make me happy, there will be many times that I am angry with her for not accomplishing what I believe to be her sole reason for existing.
My view of God determines everything I do and feel.
Like the dumpster view from the hotel room at the beach, if I only have images of my Heavenly Father that stink, I will have no desire to go to Him. And it is so easy to accumulate false images of Him as we are bombarded with difficult struggles throughout our lives. We tend to apply all the negatives to His name. We often fail to turn our beach chair around and face the beautiful truth of who He really is.
We are loved even when we do not feel lovable.
The personal view we choose to take matters. To say it another way, our perspective matters. When there is a change in how I view others, my actions towards them changes. But where our views can change, God’s does not. He is Who He is. His love for us does not change, even if our perspective on how lovable we are does. Whether we choose to abide in that love determines whether we enjoy the benefits of that unconditional love He has for us. Living in His Grace flies against everything in us. We want to earn love and acceptance, so we measure how much we are loved by how good we perform. We also measure it by how we feel at the time. Since I can plainly see that my performance is poor much of the time, the emotions of guilt and fear follow suit, which leads to a cycle centered on the perceived absence of His love…even though it is there! As I make a decision to open myself up to what the beach is REALLY all about and turn my beach chair around, I begin to experience the reality of how much I love it. Likewise, as I call into question and surrender my false views of myself, others, and especially God, I am able to embrace the reality of grace, love, and joy I have been missing.