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What Keeps You From Seeing? The Bible warns us of spiritual blindness. Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah, "hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive" (Matthew 13.14). Recently I thought of this passage after going to the "eye doctor." Growing up I was as blind as a bat. The problem was I did not know what I was not seeing. In school I was a really good listener and got by without seeing the writing board. Having the name of Tucker I was usually in the back of the room, but I was not aware that everyone else could see the board. In the 7th grade I started getting some bad grades. I remember going to the teacher after a test and talking to her about my grades. I showed her my notes and what I thought she wrote on the board. It was then she told me that I had not written what she wrote. My sincerity in writing what I thought was on the board did not matter for my answers were still wrong. So, I told my parents and they took me to an optometrist. Once I put on those glasses a lot of things came in view. I never realized people could see individual leaves on tress or branches for that matter. I just saw trees. Recently I was having trouble reading the small letters in my Bible and knew I needed to have a new prescription. In other words I now know what I am not seeing. The doctor told me what I already knew and did indeed prescribe for me new glasses. Here's my spiritual point. Some may not see because they do not know what they are missing. They need to hear the word of God. Others may be blinded by past spiritual teachings. "Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition." (Matthew 15.6b) The Jews had adopted traditions that contradicted the word of God. They needed to cast off those manmade traditions and accept God's word. Others may be blinded by their prejudice and hardness of heart. Finally, some may have become blinded over time and need to go back to the word of God. For me the doctor could prescript glasses that would take care of the problem. My prescription may not be the same as yours, but we should be seeing the same thing. A person who is ignorant needs to study his Bible; a person bound my human traditions need to cast off those traditions; a person blinded by prejudice or hardness of heart needs to open their eyes (heart) and change; finally a person who drifts from God's word needs to wake up and see his spiritual position. The solution may be different, but we should all get back to doing God's will, i.e. His Word. The end result of blindness is the same, the inability to see and serve God. It will cause us to be lost or remain in the dark. Therefore, we need to hear and understand, we need to see and perceive. -- Dennis Tucker |