We are confronted every day with the sights and sounds of a world in distress- our world. These things should assault our eyes and ears. Instead, they have become familiar backgrounds and ambient noises of our daily lives. They have become so “normal” that we simply no longer hear and no longer see. The result? We no longer pay attention.
-Paul David Tripp
The world we live in is a very interesting place. We encounter people across every part of the spectrum. We “try” to impact those around us. However, in this time, even that rarely happens. We tend to turn a blind eye to what is going on around us. The more that I am walking in this very short life that I have lived, I am seeing the value in letting life come as it is. I am beginning to think the call of Jesus is to just open our eyes t0 see the world around us.
This act of opening our eyes involves opening every part of us, because in order to see others, we must first see ourselves. This is transparency. We must do this to pay attention and not let those around us fade into the cracks of this world. When we see ourselves and accept the grace that God lavishly pours out on us, we see the pain in the world around us. We see the need to love God and love others.
Transparency allows you to pour yourself out, to connect with those around you, and to live in the way you were designed. In doing this, we unlock the calling in our lives. We see the need that we all have, the need for a Savior. The beauty in transparency and grace is that we are not called to change the world, but rather to be changed by the One who can.