God's perspective

by Rapha Abreu·October 07, 2026·4 min read

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Perhaps you have learned to look at yourself through the lens of your mistakes. With every fall and failure, you accuse yourself, and everything becomes proof that you are not who you should be. But God’s perspective does not work like ours. While we see what went wrong, He is able to see what can still be transformed.

God does not ignore our mistakes, but He also does not allow them to define our story. His gaze pierces through the guilt, reaches the heart, and finds value where we often only find failure. In His presence, what was broken does not have to remain that way forever.

Beyond what you have done

“The Lord does not see as man sees: man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

When Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint one of his sons, he looked for someone who, in his eyes, had the right appearance to be king. But God showed that His gaze reaches places human eyes cannot. He was not looking only for what seemed ready; He was looking at the heart of someone who was yet to be formed.

That is how God looks at you as well. He knows your mistakes, contradictions, and weaknesses, but He does not reduce you to them. Sin may reveal an area that needs transformation, but it has no authority to erase the value God has placed in you. The Lord is able to see the person who is still being formed, while we remain stuck on the person we have been.

Perhaps you look at your history and see only chapters you wish you could erase. God, however, does not need to erase the past to write a new chapter. He can redeem what was broken and transform even places of failure into testimonies of His grace.

What guilt has wounded

“Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
Mark 10:21 (NIV)

Before Jesus told the rich man what he needed to leave behind, the text records something precious: Jesus looked at him and loved him. This shows us that God’s truth is never separated from His love. Jesus did not need to ignore what was wrong to love that person.

Christ’s gaze is not one of contempt for those who have failed. It is a gaze that knows deeply and, even so, remains full of love. When Peter denied Jesus three times, he could have believed that his failure had ended his story. But after the resurrection, Jesus went to meet him by the sea and asked three times: “Do you love Me?” (John 21:15-17). That encounter did not erase what Peter had done, but it showed that his fall would not be the final word.

There are wounds that the world deepens because it teaches us to believe that our worst moment is who we are. Jesus looks differently. He confronts, forgives, restores, and restores dignity. His love does not call wrong right, but it also does not abandon the person because of it.

Follow Me

“Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’”
Matthew 16:24 (NIV)

God’s gaze restores while leading to a new path. When Jesus calls someone to follow Him, He is not saying that the person has already reached a perfect place. The calling happens on the path of transformation. Following Jesus means allowing Him to form us as we walk with Him.

Peter is an example of this. He failed, wept bitterly, and likely carried the weight of that night for some time. But Jesus did not look at Peter and say: “You are the one who denied Me.” He looked at the disciple who could still be restored and entrusted him with a mission once again: “Feed My sheep” (John 21:16).

Perhaps today you are looking at yourself and seeing only what needs to be fixed. But God looks at you and sees someone who is still in process, just as we look at helpless babies when they make mistakes; they know less than we do, and we know far less than God. He knows your falls, but He also knows the path His grace can create from them. His gaze does not say that the past did not happen, but that it does not have to determine the future. And, after everything, His voice continues to call: “Follow Me.”

God’s grace does not invite us to remain the same. It finds us exactly where we are and calls us to walk toward what He desires to form in us. Perhaps you cannot see who you can become, but God already sees it. And when He looks at you, His gaze remains full of truth, mercy, and love.