How’s your Vision?

Taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight are the senses we take for granted on a daily basis. You just assume that when you pick up your coffee cup that you will feel the weight of the cup in your hand or the heat radiating from the cup of hot coffee. When we open our eyes from a nap, we expect to see the room around us and its contents. We don’t worry about stumbling our way around because we can see, right? We don’t think about our physical senses a lot until they leave us. 

I turn another year older this year just like everyone else, and one thing I’m noticing is that I can’t see as well as I used to. I need new glasses to help see what I used to see just fine. The older I have gotten the harder it is to read fine print or to see without the aid of a light. I never thought about it when I was young because my sight was great, but my vision wasn’t clear then either it was just all I had ever known it to be. I didn’t know I had any problems seeing until at age 15 I went to take a vision test for my learners driving permit. They wouldn’t pass me until I went and saw an optometrist and got corrective lenses. I came to find that I was almost blind in one eye. I remember the drive home after getting my first pair of glasses. There was an old cemetery that sat back off the road not far from our house. I was surprised I didn’t know it was there. I had never seen it before. It is an old cemetery that has been there for over a hundred years. When I told my mom she just cried and kept apologizing to me for not knowing I couldn’t see. It wasn’t her fault she can’t see through my eyes. I didn’t know any better because the way I saw things is the way I thought everyone saw things. In school, I just thought that the guys sitting in the back of the class had to be failing because they couldn’t see what was written on the chalkboard. I knew I couldn’t pass sitting back there because I couldn’t see the board. You see I thought my vision was perfectly normal because I never had anything to compare it to. 

In my opinion, many of us are or have been dealing with vision issues we didn’t know we had. I didn’t fully understand that my past sins had been covered by his blood. I thought for years that God kept tabs, and he would still punish me for all the bad I had done until I read in Ephesians 1:7-10 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” I never understood that to be forgiven meant that the Father has redeemed me. You see, I thought that because it was the way I saw things. I had never had anything to compare it to until I read the word of God for myself and studied it out. I found out real quick that I had been very short sighted about several things. There were many things that I had been taught by people I respected and loved that were keeping me bound to the law that Jesus came to set me free from. I’m sure that no one meant to lead me astray; it was just what they had been taught. My vision was blurred to say the least. I took my own failures and the opinions of others and came to a view of God that wasn’t correct. I had to get corrective lenses to clear up my vision: The word of God. 

Many people live in a constant state of fear or shame because their way of looking at God and their relationship with Him is not clear. We put weights on ourselves by comparing our lives and how others do things. It causes us guilt and shame that Heavenly Father never meant for us to carry. If we don’t take the steps to correct our vision it will lead us into a spiritual ditch. Jesus gave that example when the disciples came to him and told him that he had offended the Pharisees by the parable he had told them (Matt.15:14). There is no need for us as men of God to walk around with bad vision. We have been given the Bible which is our study guide, our life map, our love letter from God. It holds the keys to give us strength to face all life’s issues. It shows us how to deal with pain and pleasure and how to help ourselves overcome ourselves. It gives us light in the dark places of our lives to allow us to see clearly. 

I can give you all the feel good verses from the Bible, but until you consistently read it, apply it, and walk it out in your own life, you will continually miss the mark because of poor vision. So I will ask you this. Why not? Why do you not take the time to maintain your vision and relationship with the Father? Why would you refuse to read His word so that you can learn and grow and have a better vision of how He sees you? What’s stopping you? What could possibly keep you from wanting to be a better you for your marriage, your family, and your own future?

God, I ask you today to show us what is keeping us from time in your word. Please make it plain so that there are no excuses on our part. Give us the strength and courage to overcome our fears and learn to be the best us that you designed us to be! Amen.