Hide

Did you ever play hide and seek when you were a kid? I did. I think that's why I turned out this way. There's nothing more nurturing to an impressionable, developing mind than to have ones friends run off and totally abandon them.

When it was my turn to be "it" I counted down from 100 with my eyes closed and, when I opened them, I soon discovered that all of my friends had simply gone home and left me standing all alone, leaning up against some random tree. Nice.

Hey, have you ever played hide-and-seek . . . in the dark? Now THERE's a game!! Nothing more calming to a neighborhood than a herd of kids running around in the dark, yelling and screaming. Gotta watch our with that one though. Depending on the neighborhood you're running around in, you could find yourself shot!

Today I'd like to talk about that transitional moment, when you pull your hands away from your eyes and suddenly the darkness disappears and your eyes are flooded with light. Wonderful, colorful light.

My grandmother on my mom's side was effectively blind at one point in her life. In order to get her mail, she had to follow a rope that had been tied between the mailbox and the back door of her house. She could see shapes but small items, like a radio dial, or small print, like a letter, were undetectable to her.

One day, doctors informed my grandmother of an operation that could restore her eyesight. What?! There was something that could be done that would allow her to see? Let's do it!! And so they did.

I would have loved to have been in the room when the doctors removed the bandages and my grandmother was able to see things she had never seen before . . . like me!!

To be blind and then to suddenly see . . . reminds me of a story.

"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” - John 9:1-27

Each of us has a choice to make in this life, whether we will follow Jesus or not. It is a very similar decision to the one my grandmother made for her physical eyesight. She chose to see. Doing so changed her life. The same life-changing opportunity awaits us all. When you arrive at that point in your life, when you hear about Jesus and wonder if the same life-changing power can work in YOUR life, read verse 25 from this passage once again. "I was blind, now I see." Then, make a decision for Christ. It will change your life forever . . . and ever. Amen.

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin