I could tell that my eyesight was getting worse. The world seemed cloudy, no longer clear and crisp and I had to work hard to focus at night. Since the pandemic had pushed me off my regular schedule, it had been a while since I had an eye exam. Imagine my surprise when the eye doctor informed me that not only had my vision become worse, but that I had cataracts, in both eyes. They scheduled my surgery.
“You won’t believe the difference” people said, “simple procedure – no sweat”. Yes, it was – simple, painless – and, man, were they right!! After the first eye was done, I understood and realized how yellow-tinted everything had been. I could not believe the difference in how clearer and brighter everything appeared. I knew things were looking a little blurry, but I had not noticed the discoloration to my world. I had not been aware of the gradual progression towards murkiness.
But isn’t that how it is when we aren’t mindful of our relationship with the Lord? When we don’t take care of our spiritual vision, we can lose sight of God and His vision for us. In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus says: “The eye is the lamp of the body. 23So, if your eye is healthy, your body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Our spiritual vision is our ability to see what God’s plans are for our lives, what He wants us to do, and on what we should be concentrating our time and effort.
How do we improve our spiritual eyesight? We can only see and know God’s plans if we are taking care of our relationship with Him; reading and studying His Word and spending time in prayer. There has to be a desire to purposely seek God with the desire to follow His lead. That’s how we stay spiritually healthy. It’s how we stay away from spiritual darkness.
But spiritual health also means seeing the world as God sees it. In the New Living Translation, Matthew 6:22 includes this: “A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul.” What a great word picture! The bright, warming, powerful light of God’s love fills our hearts, (to overflowing!), with the desire to love and serve Him. We become a reflection of God’s light!
Being a light in this dark world can make a difference in someone’s life when you least expect it, but it can be challenging. There may be that job and those family demands that overwhelm; periods of doubt about one’s faith and God’s sovereignty. And then there are those self-serving desires and goals that swivel our eyes off of God. Perhaps we are no longer seeing His work in our lives. We’ve lost sight of the plans He has for us. It’s a slow regression, just like my eyesight was and we may not even be aware that it is happening…
Our spiritual vision can easily get clouded. But a pure “eye” is one that is fixed on God. We must stay in close relationship with our Lord and Savior to keep our “eyes” healthy. Are you taking care of your spiritual vision? Have you asked and allowed the Holy Spirit to give you a check-up?
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