Our eyes play a vital role in our lives, yet “seeing can be deceiving!” Everyone views things differently and various witnesses to an accident have varying accounts of what actually happened. The whole truth then depends upon the completeness of each witnesses account . . . and even still “seeing an be deceiving!”
God in His Word often uses the symbol of eyesight to teach us spiritual truths. The Psalmist says, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” Psalm 119:18 NIV. Jesus told the ecclesia at Laodicia to buy “salve to put on their eyes, so they could see” Revelation 3:18. He also said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” Matthew 6:22 NIV. In all of these quoted verses, God is Not talking about having wonderful eyes, but about “seeing” correctly in a spiritual way. As mortal beings, our eyesight deceives us the most when we are taking a look at ourselves. Our perception about things often lead us to wrong conclusions. What a person “sees,” reveals a great deal about himself! What we see or purposely avoid seeing depends upon the natural eye as on the beholder’s spiritual attitude to the situation. We tend to judge what we see in others by the condition of our own heart and what sins we may excuse in ourselves, we often find quite repulsive when found in others. This fact alone should help us to be careful when evaluating ourselves and in making judgments upon others.
The Basic Problem
We are all well aware of our basic problem when we accept the gospel. The condition of our heart is recognized as in a desperate state. We are told in Jeremiah 17:9, that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” The accuracy of our “seeing” then depends upon the truthfulness of our mind. We know that we are in this dilemma having been born under the condition of sin. Things that were beautiful in the beginning became twisted and ugly by the introduction of sin and has distorted the complete understanding of our deceptful hearts. Our eyes need a specialist who can diagnose various “eye diseases” and heal them. This specialist is Jesus Christ, who healed the blind . . . never content to heal a man only partially, but will also reach out to give that ‘second touch’ as he did in MARK 8:22-25 to a blind man.
Our eye specialist will clear up our basic blindness by giving us the “light” of salvation . .. the understanding of the gospel and God’s plan for us. After we have been exposed to this light, Jesus then begins working on those fine points with optical surgery if need be. This can be quite painful . . . our trials and tribulations hurt, but if the surgery is successful then it is well worth the pain. Jesus can treat ‘near-sightedness’, ‘far-sightedness,’ color-blindness,”total blindness’ and eye damage by foreign objects, tunnel-vision and limited vision. We shall discuss each of these on the spiritual plane. Christ removes the specks and dirt . . . beams and logs and other maladies from our eyes as we grow in spiritual viewing. Either we shall grow to “see” better . . or we shall become totally spiritually blind, and without hope altogether simply by our allowing or NOT allowing the great surgeon to develop and control our life. With increased faith we will learn to no longer regard others from a worldly point of view, because faith will have changed our viewpoint and awareness of sin. We will become a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17.
Born Spiritually Blind
Mankind is born spiritually blind to God’s truth. The ‘spiritually blind’ cannot understand God’s truth unless God himself chooses to let the light open a man’s eyes. The blind lack a sensitivity to the things of God, they do not view sinful ways with the same disgust as God does. They are like the Pharisees . . . “seeing but never perceiving” Matthew 13:14. But blessed were the eyes of the disciples (v. 16) Like Paul the Apostle, God takes the great scales off cur eyes and gives us healthy eyesight. We sometimes blind ourselves again with the cares of this life. If only we would focus on the future and appreciate how well God takes care of us and protects us from harmful and disastrous things. In the Old Testament Elisha’s servant Gehazi, became fearful upon his discovery of danger and reported it to Elisha. Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes might be opened saying, “Fear not, for those who are with s are MORE than those who are against us.” 2 KINGS 6:16 NIV. When Gehazi’s eyes were opened, he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. The Syrians were then smote with blindness and became captives of the Israelites. How many times are we like Gehazi ? We forget that God has miriads of angels that he can send to solve any problem or any disaster we might be in. We waste so much time in anxiety and fear, depression and dispair instead of “letting go, and let God!” We have been promised by Jesus that he would never leave us nor forsake us . . . and yet we often have little faith that anyone cares about our plight. We must not become ‘spiritually blind’ with little faith in the power of God.
The First Step to a Cure
We know the “why” of our condition, but how do we stop hurting ourselves and others and the truth with our lack of faith ? How do we get beautiful eyesight? The first step is to put complete trust in God and then practice believing Only the positive . . . the best of everything. That sounds easy . . . but it isn’t. We must not jump to conclusions or let that old man of the flesh take over and deceive us. We must calmly, peacefully, seek to esteem others better than us and that they are struggling to do their best at all times. We should not attribute to them . . . or a group . . . or an entire ecclesia . . . any evil motives or intentions. If we have questions, we should seek the answers directly from them as commanded in Matthew 18, and settle any offences made between brethren in this manner. How often do we attribute wrong motives to others and cause great harm to them and to the truth by destroying enthusiasm in the service rendered by a brother or sister or by spreading doubt about certain projects that may benefit our preaching or because they have never been tried before. Each of us has been given special talents to perform for the Lord, and we must turn off the envious eyesight and render an abundance of love and joy and peace in all aspects of ecclesial life.
Spiritually Near-Sightedness.(MYOPIA)
Being nearsighted is common. One has a problem reading small print and has to hold reading material inches away from the nose in order to see clearly. Things become fuzzy at a distance. Yet, the spiritually near-sighted are often the Young in the ecclesia. They get caught up with their goals for education, business, marriage, etc., and forget godly goals and the future glories of the Kingdom of God. Most of those who leave the truth are in their youth. Present moments of exciting experiences and youthful passion blind the youth from seeing the end of the matter. The slippery paths of the young are vulnerable to what lies immediately before their eyes. They must take time to view the long-range consequences of their actions. Often those who have married out of the truth or married a new convert to the truth refuse to take a close look at the attitudes, habits and interest level of their companion. Young people that have been raised in the truth may not be good choices either . . . perhaps they only attend out of habit. Often young people seek a fine education away from home life at a college away from an ecclesia. Without the protection and guidance of the home, one can be greatly pressured into conforming to this world. Without the spiritual food of the ecclesia, faith can cease to grow. No one ever stands still, they either grow or become dead to the things of God.
The Lord can cure myopia . . . if the person will exercise his eyes and discipline himself to doing Bible Readings . . . reading articles in periodicals . . . and associating themselves in fellowship with those of like precious faith. The best way to keep your spiritual eyesight healthy and clear of myopia is to set a mental picture of the glories of the coming Kingdom in your mind. If you don’t have one . . . read Bro. Robert’s ideas found in the booklet entitled “The Letters to the Elect in Times of Trouble.” He inspires and uplifts your thoughts in such a way, you can’t put the book down before reading the chapter about the Kingdom of God.
The older members who have developed myopia should remember how easily they can destroy the enthusiasm of the young as they offer new ideas to preaching, or desire attendance at ecclesial functions. Nothing kills enthusiasm faster than the lack of attendance at lectures, classes and planned activities. Why plan something if no one wants to come? Spiritual myopia can be summed up as a lack of faith . . . or a concentration of the present rather than the future. The cure is to focus our sights on our ultimate goal . . . examine yourself and make sure you are not like Esau who traded his birthright for a mere pot of stew !
Far-sightedness—Hyperopia
The far-sighted person can see distant objects clearly but has trouble with the objects close by. Spiritually far-sighted persons have the future goal of the Kingdom clearly set in the mind, but they neglect what needs to be done at present. They lack the desire to exercise immediate responsibilities. They think someone else can do it or that they are not needed in any particular project. Generally, in ecclesial life this malady afflicts the elder members and the newly baptized. Both feel they are not equipped physically or spiritually to carry on the work. The heavy load of the work in ecclesial life rests on the middle-age group and young couples, those between 25-50. Why are young brethren and sisters not encouraged to apprentice with a teacher and learn how to teach a class for Sunday School? Why have many of the young isolated themselves from the Bible classes of the elder members ? Young and old need to mix and encourage and balance off each other. Experience and ambition are the best tools for success. The cure is to get these two groups together and they will balance out each other.
Color Blindness
There are several kinds of color-blindness. This malady is the inability to distinguish colors properly. Various shades of color are muddled and distorted. Most color blind people are male . . . one in ten, with only one in every two hundred female. The shades often confused are red and green. In the spiritually colorblind we shall discuss three important kinds . . . black-sightedness, rose-sightedness, and green-sightedness.
Black-sightedness is only seeing the bad. It is having a negative attitude. It is viewing everything and everyone with suspicion with little or no evidence for it. Titus 1:15 tells us, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” NIV Shakespeare said, “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” Perhaps we are suspicious of others actions because given the chance we might do what they do. The cure for black-sightedness is to find out all the facts . . . a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The best treatment is love . . . 1 Corinthians 13:6. The New English version reads, “Love keeps no score of wrongs: does not gloat over other men’s sins, but delights in the truth.” We do not rub our hands in glee when we hear about the failings of others. Love is willing to believe the best about others . . . to be gentle rather than too harsh . . . and when in doubt, love gives the other fellow the benefit of the doubt. Combat the black-sightedness by concentrating on the beautiful. “Whatever is true, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV Be an optimist not a pessimist!
The color-blindness that sees only the good: Rose-sightedness is the inability to see black. This person seems unable to detect evil, injustice and general cussedness. That was how Eve was deceived in the beginning. She only saw the good! It was the false prophets of Israel who declared “Peace, peace” when there was no peace. JEREMIAH 6:14. Many times this kind of color-blindness is a cop-out, an excuse for not accepting one’s responsibilities . . If a problem doesn’t exist, no one has to do anything. Avoid rosesightedness when choosing a marriage partner. Avoid it when you are loathing at the behavior of your children. Avoid it especially when looking at your own faults! Sin is SIN. People today don’t call getting drunk, drunkenness . . . they call it “getting loaded” and “happy.” Lying is called “making inoperative statements.” Killing is called “eliminating.” GOD doesn’t have the problem of rosesightedness. He sees evil as evil. “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lords.” PROVERBS 1:59. When something is black, good eyesight will see it as black. Don’t make excuses for your mistakes. Call sin, sin and take steps to correct it.
The color-blindness of envy: Spiritually seeing green is one of the most common ways of seeing things. This has been a major defect in mankind’s vision down through the ages. Cain killed Abel with his green-sightedness. Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar because of it. Joseph’s brothers sold him on account of it. Saul envied David’s military ability to kill ten thousands . . . the prodigal’s brother became angry, refusing to come in to the party . . . and the chief priests killed Jesus . . . all because they had green sightedness. If you don’t think envy is that great of a sin, then read ROMANS 1:28, 29, “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They are full of Envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.” Here envy is listed alongside of depravity and Murder! In Romans 13:13, “dissension and jealousy” are listed in the same sentence as orgies and drunkenness and sexual immorality. The cure for green-sightedness is thanksgiving. If a person concentrates on being thankful for what he has, he will not view his neighbors possessions with a green eye. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasurers on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasurers in heaven . . . “Matthew‘ 6:19, 20 NIV. Envy can lead to violence and even murder. The stories listed are examples to that fact. To really love others is to squeeze out envy! Be a giver, not a getter!
Total–Blindness
Have you become completely used to the dark? The totally blind person cannot see at all. The spiritually blind person has probably left the ecclesia or is in the process of it. Have we taken the time to see these stumbling persons who without love and help may fall headlong over the cliff of worldly ways to their death? Does our ecclesia spend as Much time seeking to restore those who have drifted away as it spends on preaching efforts to those who have heard? Do we withdraw from members without showing them the way of repentance? Those of us who have good healthy eyesight MUST become the blind man’s eyes, gently guiding them back to the light. The secret to success is prayer! Galatians 6:1.
Foreign Objects
All of at some time or other has had something fly into our eye. On the spiritual plane, foreign objects are what Jesus calls a plank in Matthew 7:3-5. Jesus has a great sense of humor in this picture of a man trying to remove a speck of dust from another man’s eye when a huge log is protruding from his eye! Human nature tends to keep us keenly aware of Other’s faults and oblivious to our own. This foreign object could be called “a double standard.” We criticize others for the things they do while we do the same. Jesus called the man with the plank in his eye a “hypocrite” … a person who feigns to be something he is not . . . a Phony. If we concentrate on removing the plank from our own eye, we would see more clearly. Genuinely pray for those you easily criticize. Examine your own motives for doing service for God. Figure out WHY you get so aggravated about those you criticize. Remember, you will be judged with the same Judgment you show to others. Matthew 7:2.
Tunnel–Vision/Limited Vision
Persons afflicted with tunnel-vision cannot see see the entire picture. Their field of vision is limited. They only see where they want to see. This spiritual malady is often called “narrow-mindedness.” Ecclesial communities must be broad-minded enough to agree to disagree on matters no affecting the fundamentals of our belief. Many of our ideas, traditions, styles of doing things come from cultural backgrounds and historic influences rather than from scriptural direction. Are we able to maintain good relationships with those who have agreed to disagree with us? Do we decide to move to new territory if we are not in control of ecclesial decisions?
Limited vision does not recognize that tragedy and hardship can be good for us or that God loves those whom he chastens. Persons with limited-vision bathe themselves in self pity and expect others to soothe them. We must leave unanswered questions about why things happen with God. His thoughts are not our thoughts . . His ways are not our ways . . . and we should be relieved to know that! Ours is to trust and believe with all our heart that the Lord is only trying to increase our eyesight when overwhelming problems occur.
Perfect Eyesight
We await the coming of our Lord to cure all our eye diseases. He alone can give the salve necessary to cure them all. And if we stay close to God in prayer, he will keep the flame of our lamp burning brightly so that our whole body will be full of his goodness, his graciousness and mercy so that we will behold wondrous things out of his law . . . and see the Lord face to face in the Kingdom of God. Take time to get an eye check-up right now . . . and add ALL of these eyed drops. 1 Corinthians 13:12; Philippians 4:8; Galatians 6:1; John 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:17,18: Matthew 7:7; Romans 14:19.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One