I just returned from a spring break getaway to Arizona to see my family. One thing I was looking forward to on this vacation was going shopping. What’s a vacation without a little shopping? Thankfully, my husband and I were able to steal some time away to go to the mall while Papa and Grandma watched our daughters.

My husband’s shopping list contained one item—sunglasses. Not that you can’t buy great shades in Colorado, but there’s just something about the Arizona desert that creates a desire for a nice pair. As we browsed a few stores, we came to a vendor who was selling sunglasses for a great price. I couldn’t refuse the deal myself, so I found some I liked, but sadly mine had a very tiny scratch on them. So the sales associate made a deal with us. She said she would give us two pairs for the price of one. I reasoned with myself that the scratch was hardly noticeable, and this was too good a deal to pass up. So I am now the proud owner of some very cool shades, with a minor flaw in them.

I am convinced that we all see things differently. I found those glasses and was able to look past the flaw, while someone else could look at the same pair and move right on past them in search of something better. We all wear lenses. Lenses are our window to the world, our perception of how things are. As we wrap up our series on joy, I can’t help but wonder if the lenses I look through impact whether I see joy.

Through our devotional writings this month we have all offered different insights and perspectives on joy, but one underlying theme remains—true joy is found in the Lord. What if we removed God from our lives for a moment? What would we see? Let’s put on the world’s lenses for just a second to see what is revealed?

First, we have to go back and define our very existence. Among many other worldly questions, why are we here? What is our purpose? A godless world would suggest that our existence is futile. In a nutshell, we are here for no good reason. When we dismiss God we have no purpose.

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” Ephesians 1: 18 – 19

This scripture so clearly sums up what a godless life would look like—a life without purpose or joy. Thankfully we don’t have to wear the world’s lenses. We can wear our own God-given lenses and see things with a Godly perspective.

Even though I try desperately to always wear my Godly lenses, I so often let the world’s views on things filter my lenses; fear, rejection and bitterness to name a few. I’m certain I have missed seeing joy due to those filters. The answer for removing those filters is simple, but not always easy. We must pursue God and allow Him to teach us how to see through His eyes.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

What has clouded the way you see? Are you missing out on knowing joy because of your lenses?