Looking through my Father’s eyes

Apr 04, 2024

Word Made Fresh - Nicholas Lye
At a family workshop I had recently conducted involving parents and their children, I introduced a game called ‘Reverse Charades’ where, instead of having one person act out a series of words for the rest of the group members to guess, the game required one person to guess a series of words that was to be individually acted out by the rest of the group all at the same time. The intention was initially to promote the idea that different people can offer different actions or perspectives that can help someone come to the same word or truth.

During one such round when it was a young boy’s turn to guess, while the rest of the group members were trying to act out the words in various ways, one participant noticed that the boy kept looking at his own father for clues, especially when the many different actions of others seemed to be confusing him rather than helping him. This observation really struck me, for it also got me to think about how often I actually turn to my Heavenly Father for clues to make sense of my life, rather than turning my attention to others whose words and actions may sometimes confuse me or even hurt me.

As we enter the season of Easter, I have been reflecting on what new life God has been bringing to me in this season.

Through the game above, I realise how I can be very caught up by the actions or lives of others, and end up feeling small or worthless when comparing my own life to theirs. There are also other times when I have allowed the words, actions and even judgements of others put me down or invalidate my worth and value. In a world where our worth and value is often found in the opinions of others, or in meeting standards and benchmarks set by others, or by how others view us or act towards us, we can often get a lot of mixed messages that, at times, can be very hurtful and damaging to our own self-image, self-esteem and self-worth.

“Islands, listen to me, pay attention, remotest peoples. The Lord called me before I was born, from my mother’s womb He pronounced my name… He said to me, ‘You are my servant in whom I shall be glorified’; while I was thinking, ‘I have toiled in vain, I have exhausted myself for nothing’; and all the while my cause was with the Lord, my reward with my God. I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, my God was my strength.” (Isaiah 49:1,3-4)

When I read the above reading during Lent, it seemed addressed to everyone who felt like they were on a remote island, rejected and marginalised by everyone else, looked down upon or pushed to the fringes of society, just as I sometimes feel. It also invited me to turn to my Father, and see myself the way my Father looks at me, and look at the clues He is offering me that reveals who I truly am in His eyes, and how much value and worth He had actually placed in me.

Whenever I feel exhausted by my comparisons to others, whenever I feel like my life amounts to nothing compared to the lives and actions of others, I am invited to look to Him and find my cause and reward in Him, to receive honour and strength from Him alone.

Indeed, in recent years, as I struggle with my own self-worth and self-doubt, God continues to invite me to turn to Him and see myself through His eyes. Slowly, He reveals to me that though my ways are different from the world, though my lifestyle may be out of the ordinary, I am far from ordinary. As He continues to bring me to ‘remote places’ where my life truly becomes a gift to others who appreciate my uniqueness, I begin to also appreciate my own worth and value.

What I also discovered, in connection with the game above, was that while the words and actions of some others may confuse or hurt me, there are also others whose words and actions do affirm and honour me. These are the people who also see me through the eyes of the Father, and convey the same truth that God my Father desires for me to receive. It is through a community that can love, accept and appreciate me the way God does that I can also receive and experience the same truth of my worth and value.

This Easter, I pray that we may learn to look to the right people to provide clues to our true worth and identity. I pray that we may also look to God our Father for clues to the truth of who we really are in His eyes, and find encouragement and strength through Him to live out our unique and extraordinary lives. I pray that as God slowly helps us discover our true value and worth, we can more fully and deeply live out the new life that God came for us to receive, and truly be the Easter people that we were originally meant to live out. Let us reverse the ways of the world, and let our lives reveal to others the truth of how God our Father sees us, and how we can see others in the same glorious light.

(Nicholas is a lay missionary and creative evangelist who loves to use creativity and various art forms to share the faith and help people encounter God’s truths in a fun and meaningful way.)