Tag Archives: seeing

Eyes to See

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One reason I quit wearing contact lenses was that I was always losing them.

But in one of those days when my absent-mindedness was still propelling me toward the inevitable decision, I stood at the window. One eye had a contact lens. The other was legally blind.

I looked out with first one eye closed, and then the other. The near-sighted eye could clearly see the screen, the dust, the cobwebs. Obviously I needed to clean. Beyond the screen was only a hazy blur of green, too indistinct to give more than a passing glance.

Then I looked through the corrected eye and found that the screen faded almost completely from view. I knew it was there, but what I saw, what my eye was able to focus on, was the beauty of the vista beyond the screen: flower and trees, even individual blades of grass. I marvelled as if I had never looked outside before.

I played the game for a minute. Bad eye, screen. Good eye, beauty. Thank God for corrective lenses, to look beyond the screen.

What was David thinking when he looked at Goliath and said, “I’m going to feed you to the buzzards”? What did he see beyond the giant?

How was it that Hudson Taylor could come to the end of his life, after losing a wife and child in China, after multiple hardships and broken health, and in the spirit of Hebrews 10:34 say, “I never made a sacrifice”? What could he see beyond those hardships? What had happened to his spiritual eyes?

How could Moses turn his back on the riches and pleasures of Egypt? How could he, as Hebrews 11 says, turn his gaze away and fix his attention on something no one else could perceive with physical eyes?  What could he see beyond those physical attractions?

What did Paul mean when he told the Ephesians in chapter 1 that he wanted the eyes of their perception to be filled with light? Can spiritual eyes, even the eyes of Christians, be legally blind? What are those things he talks about, those things we’re supposed to see? Are they worth begging God for corrective lenses?

Lord, fix our vision to fix our gaze—beyond the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches. Fill our eyes with light to see beyond the Giants.

Spirit of Christ, give us eyes to see your Beauty. Your Power.

Beyond the Screen.

Is Satan really a defeated foe?

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I was reading a little booklet about how Satan is a defeated foe. The text said something like, “So why is Satan so powerful in the world today? Because Christians haven’t believed that he is powerless.”

I’m sorry, but this makes no logical sense. If you don’t believe he has no power then he has power? Just believe that he is already defeated, and then he will be defeated? That’s like the Catholic priest telling the parishoner, don’t believe your senses that this is wine and bread. I’m telling you it’s the body and blood of Christ.

So you see a giant hovering over you. He is dressed in full armor, and he carries a sword that you would have to use two hands to pick up. He hates you, and he hates your God.

Do you tell yourself he has already been beheaded? But you can see him right there!

Just close your eyes and repeat over and over, “He’s gone he’s gone he’s gone he’s gone.” But when you open your eyes he’s still there!

You cannot have joy in this circumstance. You cannot overcome your fear. You can’t even believe that what you’re saying is true! It’s impossible to believe one thing when your senses are telling you something else.

The fact of the matter is that your senses need to be alerted to the truth. Your eyes need to be opened.

So I will take you right up to the giant and show you that he is nothing but a clever holographic image projected onto a nearly invisible screen. And look at the pipsqueak running the projector. He’s even smaller than the wizard of Oz! He’s truly powerless!

Your first response might be, “Oh! Now I see!”

Your eyes have been opened. You understand.

If you have truly placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the devil has no power to cause you to sin or to lose your faith. He can only play the deadly game of smoke and mirrors. He can flash images on the screen on your mind, but he cannot cause you to sin.

You have the power through Jesus Christ to stand against him.

I’ll show you that those manacles around your wrists that feel so heavy are only an illusion. You’ve allowed yourself to be hypnotized. When you awake, when you arise from the dead, when Christ gives you light, you won’t have to remind yourself to be joyful. The joy will spring out naturally. The gratitude for what Christ has done will flow, again and again, every time you remember the fact that He has overcome the enemy.

You can stand without fear against the enemy. You can cry out, like David did, “I will feed you to the vultures!”

Because your eyes are opened, and you see. You know that Jesus Christ, the All-Powerful one, has already defeated this foe.

Looking for Jesus

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“How can I pray for you?” I asked that question of three different young women on the same evening. To my surprise, they all gave basically the same answer.

“That my eyes would be opened.”
“That my vision of Christ would be clearer.”
“That I would see Jesus.”

They were groaning with the darkness of the soul, the waywardness of the heart, the distractedness of the eyes.

So.

Should I tell them, “But God said no one would ever see Him in this life, so don’t hope for that.” Be content at your low level of Christian experience. Settle for a life that’s shrouded in the mist of confusion and uncertainty. It may not be great, but it’s normal. Hoping for more, well, that’s just pie-in-the-sky Christianity. And you don’t want to be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good. Heavens no.

And yet.

The language of light and sight fills the New Testament. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light!” Matthew proclaimed about his countrymen. Jesus healed a blind man and then said that those who rejected Him were the ones who truly could not see. Paul told us that God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I could go on and on.

So what can we do, those of us who are longing, aching to see Him more clearly? Longing for our spiritual vision to be, if it could be possible, even more clear than our physical vision? Because truly, in the deepest heart, we know that He is more lovely, glorious, desirable, fulfilling, worthy of praise than all the hundred distractions that are calling for our time and energy and attention.

We seek Him through His written Word, the great Magnifying Glass of God. We beg Him to turn on the light in our souls. We cry out to Him to open the eyes of our understanding. We band together in desperately dependent prayer. There is a world of darkness, and the light of God is as narrow as a laser beam.

Maybe you see the light . . . a little. But your vision is blurry. “I see men like trees walking.” He is your only Hope. Believe that. Seize the hem of His robe and don’t let go. Cry out to Him for vision correction, read His Word, and believe what you read.

But you have to look in the right direction. There is one narrow laser beam of light. Turn toward that, with your new eyes. Don’t keep avoiding Him, claiming you can’t see Him. He has told you how to seek Him. Turn toward Him and seek Him alone, with your hungry heart.

But get obstructions out of the way. Forcefully turn from the things that would pull you away, and run, run after Him, with all the energy He gives you. Then trust Him for more, to keep running.

O man of God, Paul wrote to Timothy, as fast as you can, run from those things that would pull your eyes away—that seeking after riches that has led so many astray. Instead, chase after the one true thing so valuable, so precious, so beautiful, that He will take your breath away when you catch sight of Him. With all your energy press forward toward the righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness that is found in Jesus Christ. Don’t give up. Keep pursuing. Pursue through desperate dependence. Believe with confident assurance that as you pursue, you will see. This is active faith.

Keep seeking. Keep longing. Keep trusting. Keep asking. Keep chasing. And know that your efforts are not in vain. As your gaze becomes more direct, as your vision becomes more clear, as the distractions fade away, the sight of Jesus Christ will take your breath away.