Through Heaven's Eyes

Part 1 – Heaven’s Mirror

This morning I sat on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

The first rays of sunlight brushed the endless cliffs, and the canyon floor lay hidden in blue shadow far below.

For a long time I simply listened—to the hush, to the breath of wind, to the immensity of rock and sky.

And one thought kept rising:

the God who carved this wonder calls me by name.

Romans 12:3 suddenly felt alive:

> “By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Those words don’t sound like a scolding warning when heard at the edge of a canyon.

They sound like an invitation to clarity.

The God who shaped these vast layers also shaped the layers of our lives.

He sees every line of history, every hidden fracture, every bright color waiting to be revealed.

Standing here makes perspective unavoidable.

From the parking lot, the canyon seemed like a flat brown rim.

Only by stepping close to the edge can the depth and grandeur be seen.

In the same way, only by moving close to God’s perspective can we truly see ourselves.

Our ordinary self-image—successes, failures, the way people label us—is as thin as that first distant glance.

Heaven’s eyes reveal the depth.

---

Our True Nature — Crafted in the Image of God

Long before the Colorado River began to carve this chasm, Genesis tells us:

> “So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

Dust became breathing soul (Genesis 2:7), not by accident but by artistry.

Every person is a living poem—Paul calls us His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10).

This means dignity is not earned by achievement and cannot be erased by failure.

The canyon declares God’s power, but a single human life displays something even greater: His likeness.

When heaven looks at you, the first word is not flaw or fault but image-bearer, beloved, mine.

---

Hidden Within the Grandeur

The Grand Canyon holds stories in its rock—ancient seashells embedded in limestone, layers of sandstone shaped by rivers long gone.

Our lives, too, hold layers of memory and meaning that only God can read perfectly.

Heaven’s gaze is never hurried or superficial.

It sees the beauty and the broken places at once and calls the whole person precious.

This is where the journey of the sermon begins: with wonder, with dignity, and with the breathtaking truth that the Creator of galaxies and canyons delights to look on each of us through heaven’s eyes.

----

Part 2 – The Light That Heals

The canyon’s grandeur can almost silence you, but after a while another truth presses in:

what looks solid from a distance is full of hidden fissures.

Geologists call them fault lines—deep fractures you can’t see until a rockslide exposes them.

That image leads naturally from wonder to honesty.

Hidden Wounds Beneath the Surface

King David once prayed with similar courage:

> “Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my thoughts.

See if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24).

He wasn’t inviting shame.

He was trusting that the God who exposes is the God who restores.

Psalm 19 calls these buried places secret faults—motives and memories so deep even conscience grows quiet.

Grace does not merely glance at those places.

Grace goes in.

The cross is proof that God knows every hidden fracture and still moves toward us, never away.

Strength and Frailty in One Life

Every person is a mosaic of gifts and gaps.

Paul confessed,

> “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Strength does not cancel weakness; sometimes weakness becomes the doorway for Christ’s strength.

Think of a cracked clay jar with light spilling through every fracture.

What looks like failure from the outside becomes the very place where God’s brilliance shines.

Even our evaluations of each other are too thin.

When Samuel looked at Jesse’s tall son and thought, Surely this is the one, the Lord said,

> “Man looks on the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Heaven’s sight goes deeper than résumés, reputations, or self-critique.

It sees character forming quietly in the dark.

Worth Beyond Measure

And if hidden faults might make us wonder whether we still matter, Jesus answers with everyday pictures:

> “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father…

Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.