Better Vision

Better Vision

“Your eyes are the lamp for your body. When your eyes are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark.” Luke 11:34

I usually sat somewhere in the middle of class. That way I wasn’t in front where the teacher would always call on me for answers, or see my museum-worthy doodles on my worksheet. And, I wasn’t in the back where most of the trouble-makers sat. I wasn’t stupid, even as a junior high student. I knew teachers had seating assignment ESP, and they knew exactly what sort of student you were by which desk you chose.

So, early in eighth grade I was a bit resistant when my teacher insisted I move to the front from the middle row. First of all, those who know me well, you will understand my first response: “What did I do? Why is she punishing me?” Though I tried to cause as little trouble as possible, I felt guilty most of the time. The teacher said, “Mark, you look like you’ve been squinting a lot when you look at the blackboard.”

I wasn’t sure why squinting warranted a move from my favorite seat. If I had winked, would that move me to the left? And, if I scratched my eyes, would that move me to the back? What is the correlation between squinting and seating arrangement. I found out soon enough, my teacher thought I might need glasses.

I shuddered when my parents made the appointment. There was no way I would gain any cool-points if I had to wear glasses. But the verdict came in: farsighted with astigmatism. My dad said, “The astigmatism means your eye is shaped like a football.” I never quite understood that, but dads know more than the encyclopedia that took up two shelves on the bookcase. Within a week I was wearing my first pair of glasses.

Everything actually seemed a bit skewed those first couple of days. The ground seemed much closer now and it felt like I was stepping through the sidewalk those first few days. But, the blackboard was crystal clear. I was impressed. I had no idea everything had been so fuzzy before. Once I saw clearly, I really didn’t care about the glasses. I enjoyed seeing well.

In some way, I think this is what Jesus is telling us. Most of us have bad vision when it comes to life. And, we’ve seen life that way for so long, we actually think what we see is the truth. Just like laser-surgery for our eyes, Jesus wants to heal the way we look at life.

Jesus called Himself the “Light of the World”. Seeing life through His light brings everything into focus. He taught us that, apart from a relationship with Him, we are walking in darkness. The irony is, we think we are doing just fine. It is of supreme importance that we realize “our view” is fuzzy, limited and very short-sighted.

To be a follower of Jesus is to admit our vision is bad, and that we need a better way of seeing. Submitting to Jesus’ loving offer to be the light by which we see the world, we can live wide-eyed lives of wonder and belief.

But, if we remain squinty-eyed, we become negative people. We accuse instead of asking Christ to heal our own vision. We whine, while all the time Jesus offers a view that will fill our needs. But, most frustrating of all, most of us are simply “blah” about life. Beauty no longer moves us. We lose our passion and hunger for God, and simply go through the motions day by day.

Ask Jesus to change your vision. God always responds to humble and reverent prayer. Stop settling for fuzzy vision and ask Jesus to help you see life through His light. Lay aside every single excuse, and decide today that darkness is no way to live. Get a Bible, read about Jesus and compare His life to your own; then ask who could use a brand new view of life. Don’t delay; we humans are great at saying “someday”. Today you can live anew in the light of Christ!