Seeing Is Believing
10/10/12
All of us would agree that eyes are one of the important organs that our body has been blessed with. The ability to see allows us to become mobile, it allows us to protect ourselves, it allows us to enjoy entertainment and we can list hundreds or thousands more reasons of why eyes are important to our existence. However, many of us forget that our spirits have eyes as well which allow for the eternal portion of our life to see the existence of another world that continually surrounds us with danger. It is our spiritual eyes that function as recognition instruments, along with our spiritual ears, to protect us from the attacks that our enemy hurls at us on a constant basis.
Humans depend upon all of our senses for us to function properly in this world. Most of us can get by with the majority of our senses and of course there are some of us that do not have the privilege of being able to use all of our physical senses. When this process occurs it may hinder our steps a bit but for the most part the human’s physical capabilities still remain without many limits. Modern technology has made huge advancements in helping those with disabilities and it is exciting to see these strides take shape for future usage.
We all know that our eyes play a major role in our abilities to complete daily tasks and as I mentioned in the paragraph above there are many in this world that do not have the privilege of eyesight. The eyes are an amazing organ which allows us to actually see other objects that are around us, coming towards us, going away from us, things and objects displayed on a television screen and thousands of more objects in various conditions. Most of us wake up in the morning and open our eyes and look out our windows and begin our day following a normal routine, and if we did not have the capability of sight our everyday drills would drastically be altered.
When we lived in California, I spent my 3rd through 5th grades in Salinas. It was a great little city but at the same time it had its dangerous side to it as well. I remember that I was in the 4th grade and my teacher was Mrs. Gump, yes that is her real name. I liked her a lot and I actually learned a lot that year. I remember that I was placed at the back of the room when school began which I had no problems with this seating arrangement. As school progressed my grades began to slip a bit and I noticed that I could not really see the board very well. Mom and dad did not believe me when I told them that I could not see. Now, in their defense….this is me we are talking about I had already acquired my sense of humor and my mind was very active so I do not blame them for not readily believing my stories.
As my 4th grade year progressed, my grades continued with the same downward progression instead of a steady upward climb. I had now been moved to the front of the class but I knew I was still having a hard time seeing. Parent / teacher conferences were approaching and I knew that my parents were not going to be happy with my grades since they were still on their slow downward slide. My nervousness increased all the way up to the evening of the big event.
Now parent teacher conferences were a lot different back when I was in school to the tune that we had to go to school all day of the meeting and then we went to our “come to Jesus” meeting after school hours all together. The teachers were all there and all of us had plenty of time to talk things through with everyone involved. So, you can understand how things could be a mighty bit tense. When it was our time to be with my teacher, my parents began to ask why my grades were dropping and my teacher defended my behavior in class, my willingness to participate but she had a problem with my eyes and she mentioned this to my parents. We all agreed that I should have my eyes checked out to eliminate this option.
A little while later it was time for the eye doctor and all of the torture that he would put my eyes through. I was nervous because I had never really been to an eye doctor before so my memory kicked in with my past experiences in medical clinics. I had an agreement with doctors and nurses and that was I did not like them and that I did not care who heard me say that during my examinations. So, what profession did I end up working in? Anyway my eye exam went on as planned and the results were astonishing to me and my parents. It was conclusive I could not see my hand in front of my face clearly and I needed glasses.
Now I am not telling you this aspect of my life to make my parents look bad or to have anyone feel ill to them in any way. The point of my words is that at some point in time during a person’s life it may become necessary to get some help in seeing things clearly. My parents were wonderful during my raising and in my opinion did a fabulous job in keeping me from getting into too much trouble along my journey. My eyes were the problem and they had to be corrected enough in order that I might see my way clearly once again.
My glasses came in and I remember my parents receiving the phone call stating that my glasses had arrived at the store. They set a time and date for all of us to come down and get them. Once again I had no idea of what was going to occur, even though my dad did his best to tell me what was going to transpire. We arrived to the office and I sat in the waiting area chair while mom and dad filled out some more paperwork. A few minutes after they had completed the paperwork a lady came and asked for me and my nervousness returned. Mom and dad both went with me into the little room and the doctor and his assistant then joined us shortly. The doctor asked if I was ready and I agreed that I was.
After I had put on my glasses and looked around the room a bit something clicked in my head that told me that I could see once again. The doctor asked me how they fit and if I could see clearly. He then told me to look at the eye chart across the room and to read off the letters as far down as I could focus. My eyesight was almost back to perfect once again after the reading of the chart letters. The doctor and my parents began talking a bit and I continued my tour of the exam room marveling at the things that I could see. And as the minutes passed by I realized more and more that it had been a while since I saw this well. It also came to my attention that now I had no excuses for making bad grades.
Even though the glasses made it to where I could see perfectly again, I still had some adjustments to make with some things like making sure that I did not bump into a wall or step off a stair without making sure that I was at the proper place when I approached these objects. Even though I could see again there was still a period of adjustment that I had to get used to before I could actually feel comfortable in every situation.
That period of my life occurred when I was in the fourth grade and to this day I continue to wear glasses. I do have contacts and I wear them as well but I would not trust myself to cross the street if I did not have my glasses on or my contacts in my eyes. Throughout the years my eyes have continued their course of worsening but with the modern technology and new eye ware options, I still am not even close to having major problems with my eyes, and I thank God everyday for this. But I do realize that I must have my glasses on at all times when I am awake and for me to function properly and that if I did not have my glasses on my face I would be totally lost.
How often do we forget that our spiritual eyes need to be corrected and sharpened on a continual basis as well? We can read many books and stories with our physical eyes but it is our spiritual eyes need to be corrected by the one book that retains our sharpness against our enemy. We may understand many things about the spiritual world and how it operates and functions but that does not exclude us from continually studying God’s Word and fine tuning our eyes to every possible attack from our enemy.
See our eyes are very important in our defense against the everyday tricks that the world brings upon us, so why wouldn’t we keep our spiritual eyes just as sharp? When our spiritual eyes are not sharp we miss many blindsided attacks that come our way or we cannot see the attacks approaching others to warn them of impending danger. As a parent would we not warn our children of danger if we saw it coming towards them? So why would we ignore the one opportunity to sharpen our eyes to combat these tactics? When we see things with this clarity then we can believe everything that is thrown at us to be a true attack and when we know our enemy’s tricks his schemes are easily defensible.
The Word of God is the only way for our spiritual eyes to be sharpened and spiritually corrected in such a manner that all of the information that crosses their path will provide a defense against present and future attacks. These attacks can come from any direction and at any time and really has no limits to which they can occur. The Bible is the one sacred word that contains all of the pertinent lessons so that we may live abundantly through God in perfect peace.
The only way that we can maintain this corrected vision is to put on the Word of God on a continual basis, a basis that forms a foundation within our spirits that shines a spiritual light in front of us which allows us to see what is headed our way. Put on your spiritual glasses by opening the Bible and earnestly reading its words and allowing these words to penetrate your spirit so that God may provide the necessary adjustments that He desires for you. Do not play with the “teenager syndrome” where popularity and good looks take precedence, but wear your spiritual glasses constantly for even when you are trying to impress someone, your eyesight still needs to be 20/20.
God is like a parent and it is His desire that every child of His sees clearly the path that we are on. He provides us with the ability to have a conference with Him each time we open His word. God provides a way of assuredness through His words that steady’s our hearts and our lives through the spiritual guidance of what we see. And if His word is constantly before us there will be nothing that shall be able to hinder us in our spiritual life nor will be ever be blindsided by a surprise attack from our enemy. Return to His word and place His words in front of our eyes again and the spiritual lights will be turned on so that we may truly see again.
DLB
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