At a recent high school soccer game, a referee made what many on the sidelines believed was a bad call. I heard a parent comment that the sun must have been in the man’s eyes for him not to see what had actually happened. I immediately thought about the Son with a different spelling and a different kind of vision altering power. The referee may have indeed made his bad call because he was partially blinded by the sunlight in his eyes. In contrast, Christians should have a different kind of skewed vision. The Son in a Christian’s eyes should result in blinding a man to finding joy in that which is evil.
If we have the Son in our eyes, we will see selfish behavior as contrary to God’s will. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3 NIV) Worldly vision is blocked out by the rays (teachings) of the Son. Jesus spent a lot of time explaining to people how to see things with Heaven-bound eyes. Evil desires and actions should be in our blind spots.
If we have Jesus in our eyes, we will reject the belief that there is no absolute right or wrong in the world. We will see evil where it exists. We will see good when it is in front of us. “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12 NIV) Do you have the vision of a man on fire for God. Do you view every day as a new opportunity to do what is righteous in God’s eyes, or are you more concerned about what your peers think about your persona?
If you believe that Jesus-vision has not taken hold of your life, perhaps you should take a look at Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV): “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Go to the Lord in earnest prayer, asking Him to give you the courage to see with new eyes.
Whether the referee on that soccer field made a bad call or not, the sun shining in his eyes had to have had an affect on his vision. So should the Son we know about and want others to see affect our eyesight and the decisions we make.
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General Submissions JEWEL CHEST
This is a well written, thought-provoking article, Dan. Many years a go, a pastor friend of mine used the phrase "the eyes of faith," and it got me thinking, just as the sun in his eyes did for you. I ended up writing a song with the line:
"And in the darkness, give me the eyes of faith"
That's something that we all need.
Jerry
