I Want to See Clearly

I have worn glasses for most of my life. I have one eye that can see pretty well but the other one is hopeless. The one good eye carried me through sports and even the early years of ministry but it started to go south on me around 40. That is about the time that I wore glasses all of the time. Today, I have to put on my glasses to get dressed. I wear them everywhere but the shower.

I tried contacts for a while. They enabled me to see what I needed to see but I had difficulty wearing them for long periods of time. They hurt after extended wear. It seemed that they dried to the pupil putting my eye in a vise. I began to wear them less and less. I rarely wear them now.

So, today I went for the examination which would tell me if I am a candidate for Lasik surgery. The exam was very involved. It took over two hours of testing on my eyes. In the end I found out that I am, indeed, a candidate for the surgery. I scheduled it for this next week. Soon, I will be seeing things much clearer than I could before. Things will not change but how I see them will.

That was true of my Christian life too. I find that I see things differently from those who do not know the Lord. It is the same world yet I interpret it completely differently. For example, I see Israel differently than most of the people who do not know the Lord. Many of those who do not know the Lord sympathize with the Palestinians to the point of wanting to give them the country now called Israel. I know that God has said He will bless those that bless His people. I see the Jews as His people. I see Israel as their land. I want to defend Israel. Of course, I would like to do so without hurting the Palestinians.

I see the change in morality differently than most of those who do not know the Lord. Most of them see morality as a progression into enlightenment. I see that sin is sin no matter what age it was committed. I see that sin is sin because God has called it sin. I know I sin but I can't rationalize it.

I remember the story of Jesus healing a blind man who before being completely healed saw things in a distorted manner. He said that he saw men but they looked like trees. He was only partially healed. It took more so that he could see things clearly.

I don't want things to be distorted in my physical vision nor my spiritual vision. I just want to see things clearly.

Mark 8:22-25 (NIV)
²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" ²⁴ He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." ²⁵ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.