Blind Eyes

I had cataract surgery a few days ago. Basically, they cut into your eye, remove the original lens, and replace it with a new one. Sounds simple, right?

Wrong.

This was like REAL surgery! Lol! Hospital gown, IV in my wrist, anesthesiologist, operating room, the whole thing.

The actual procedure took five-ten minutes, but the prep time took an hour. My surgeon had 17 such surgeries Thursday morning. Then he met with each of us patients that same afternoon to see how we were doing.

So, is my vision all clear this morning? Nope. I can see but my vision is still a bit cloudy. That's normal I guess but I was hoping for some kind instantaneous restoration. Again . . . nope.

It reminds me of Jesus and His healing of the man born blind.

"He (Jesus) took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly." - Mark 8:23-25

The interesting thing about the account we just read was that Jesus healed the man in two stages. With other similar healings of blindness in the Bible people could see immediately. So, why wasn't this man's healing the same?

It doesn't really say, but there is a hint a few verses earlier when read that it was "some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him." The blind man himself did not ask to be healed.

Perhaps by being partially healed at first the blind man himself then had faith in Jesus. He certainly had no hope before, but now he actually could see, although not clearly. But now the man himself believed in the healing power that Jesus had. And that's what Jesus was waiting for.

Elsewhere in the Bible we read of many other such healings of the blind and lame and we hear this from Jesus:

"Your faith has healed you."

The blind man was brought to Jesus because of THEIR faith, not his. Total restoration (the second time) was a result of the blind man's faith, not theirs.

I believe my eye surgeon when he says that the cloudiness in my eye will disappear in a few days. His testimony is based on thousands of other such surgeries that he has performed.

But my ultimate faith is in Jesus. My faith in Jesus is based on the total restorative surgery that He has already performed on my heart. Only through Him was I made able to clearly see.

Fisherman

This young man just witnessed something we rarely get to see these days - a miracle of God. And what was his response? Well, he fell down on his knees and worshipped. What will WE do when we encounter the one true God face-to-face?

That's a hard question to answer I guess. It all really depends on what He means to us when we meet Him.

There are many of us believe in Him right now without having actually seen Him. We have only heard about Him. Yet somehow we have been drawn to Him. It is the Holy Spirit calling us. Still, many will not believe in Him even though they have heard all about Him their whole lives. Remember Thomas? DOUBTING Thomas?

"Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:24-29

If you believe, you are blessed. That should help you get your Monday off to a pretty good start. YOU! You have been blessed by God!

I encourage you to watch the following video. You will see a man change right before your eyes from a non-believing frustrated fisherman to a worshipping on his knees disciple of Jesus Christ. It's worth the watch.

The Miracle of The Fish - 'The Chosen' Movie

Squeegee

Each year in the spring my wife and I hire some people to come clean our windows. We really enjoy looking out the spotless windows. We don't like looking through dust, dirt and cob webs. That stuff spoils everything.

In the Book of John there is a story about Jesus restoring the sight of a man born blind. The Pharisees were upset because Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath and therefore must not be from God. The formerly blind man did not change his story however, proclaiming that Jesus WAS from God.

^"30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” - John 9:30-33

There are a few interesting things to remember in that passage of scripture. The first one is that God only hears the prayers of His children. Those of us who have not surrendered our hearts to God's will . . . will receive nothing.

The other piece of scripture worth noting here is that Jesus did indeed open his eyes. Does that mean that this man was born without sin? Well, it doesn't say THAT specifically that the man was not born blind BECAUSE of sin. But it DOES say WHY the man was born blind. Read verses 1-3.

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
 
³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." - John 9:1-3

This blind man had his "windows cleaned" by God. So have all of us who believe in Him. And now that OUR eyes have been opened we can see clearly see the truth in God's word. We are no longer blind to the ways of this world. We are aliens here. But we are aliens with perfect eyesight. Clean windows.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" - Matthew 6:22-23

"You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness." - 1 Thessalonians 5:5

We are children of The Light. Our eyes have been opened. Our windows cleaned. We need to keep them clean, and our hearts pure, by filtering what we allow to penetrate and find a home. We are to honor God in all things. If the things that come in through our "windows" are clean to begin with, the things that enter our minds and go out through our mouths will be as well.

Open Up Your Eyes - Jeremy Camp

Open Your Eyes

Okay. Are you ready for a vision test. Take a look at this picture and tell me what you see. The face of Jesus is to most obvious thing but take a closer look. Do you see people standing off to the left? To the right? Probably. But do you see Jesus riding on a donkey? Do you see the stone arch in the background creating a halo over the head of Jesus? Or is His hair actually the inside of the arch that the people are standing in?

In the Book of Mark, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah saying, "‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” - Isaiah 6:9, Mark 4:12

We tend to see things based on our own personal experiences and through the lens of the things we have learned.

Currently we have several people running for the office of President of The United States. They all have eyes and they all can see but each of them sees things differently. The same can be said of our churches. That's why there are so many different denominations.

Everybody has heard of Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective. Sherlock gives us another example similar to Isaiah 6 from the book A Scandal in Bohemia. Speaking to Watson, Holmes says,

“You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.”

 “Frequently.”

 “How often?”

 “Well, some hundreds of times.”

 “Then how many are there?”

 “How many? I don't know.”

 “Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.”

The other day my wife and I were at our grandson's birthday party. He's four years old already! We were preparing to pray before our meal that day and his mother said to him, "It's time to pray. Fold your hands."

He folded his hands, closed his eyes and bowed his head. One could easily see an obedient child but his actions also demonstrated a child who has been trained in the ways of The Lord. No one told him to bow his head or to close his eyes but someone clearly had told him to do that in the past. We can observe things about people simply by watching them.

I once asked someone at work how they were doing. "Fine," they said. But I observed in this persons eyes a different story so I asked again. That's when the tears began to flow. We then prayed together and now we are amazingly close friends, simply by observing . . . and acting.

As we live our lives, people will be watching US. What do THEY preserve about us? Will they think we are educated? Will they think we are nice? Caring" Giving? Will they think we are Christians simply by watching us?

Anybody can walk into a church. That's where Christians hang out, right? Wrong. Christians don't just simply go to church, they LIVE their faith. They are taught by their parents, they read God's Word and they live it out.

Our pastor delivered an amazing closing line to his sermon on Sunday. He asked us a question.

Knowing that God can see into our hearts . . . what will He see in yours?

Ouch.

May we live our lives as Jesus would. Always seeing AND preserving. May we take the time to look behind the fake smiles and into the hearts of those around us. There is hurting everywhere. And we hold The First Aid Kit in our hearts - Jesus. Let us reach out in love to those who are only seeing and not yet perceiving.

The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7

You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 - Pink Floyd