Impaired Vision

As I was pondering Clovis’s vision quandry (see previous post) which he brought upon himself, it occurred to me that we all have impaired vision - whether or not we wear glasses. We simply can’t “see” things around us, we can’t see people, we can’t see circumstances, and for sure we can’t really see ourselves...no matter how many mirrors may be on our walls. At our best we have impaired vision, at our worst we have warped vision with ourselves at the center. 

If it is hard to see things as others see them, it is particularly difficult to see things as God sees them; so it seems that a good dose of humility is in order as we view our world and as we seek God. The problem with humility is that we must somehow escape the black hole of “self” which insists on drawing all things and people into itself in order to get its own way - I don’t think we are capable of doing this. This gives us another reason to seek the Christ of the Cross - the One who says that if we are to follow Him that we must deny ourselves...surely He will show the Way, surely He will teach us how to deny ourselves, to escape the slavery of “self”. But of course it is difficult when we all want to be “American Idols” - whether on stage, at work, in a family, with friends, playing sports (or living through our children as they work at sports), or in academics - or sadly in church...there is no place where we are not tempted to idolatry in one form or another; we may not all be tempted in all places, but we are all tempted in some places.

God gives us His Word to correct our vision. To be sure there are many times we cannot see what God sees, we cannot see what His Word tells us; but we can still trust His vision the way a pilot trusts his instruments in zero visibility, or the way a pilot trusts an air-traffic controller when the pilot’s instruments are out and he is flying in zero visibility. When we insist on flying by trusting in our own impaired vision we will crash, and usually when we crash we will hurt others. 

“The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). As we obey God’s commandments, as we meditate in His Word, our eyes will enlightened, our understanding will grow - we will see more clearly and we will better understand what we see. 

“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways” (Psalm 119:37). What we focus our attention on draws us to itself and becomes embedded within us. Just as video pulls people into itself (How many people turn on the TV to watch “just a few minutes” and hours later are still watching in a trance? How many of us turn the computer on for “just a few minutes” and hours later cannot account for our time?) so what we focus the eyes of our hearts and minds on transforms us into its image - when we are caught in the tractor beam of toxicity we need to cry out to God, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity!”

In John Chapter Nine we read, And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

So I think we are better off to admit our blindness, our propensity to view all things in relation to ourselves, to acknowledge that sin has clouded our vision, and to seek renewed vision in God’s Word in Christ. I need to remind myself that I don’t see the entire picture and that I need God and others to help me to see things that I cannot see clearly. This is true of us as individuals and it is also true of groups - of families, churches, schools, businesses - for groups of people experience their own collective blindness. 

Of course, to avail myself of the perspectives of others I must take time to listen, to ask questions, to ask clarifying questions, and to ponder. I must also learn to trust, to be sure the vision of some folks is not to be trusted, but that should not preclude me from learning to trust others, to learn from them, to learn with them. 

And of course - God and His Word are always to be trusted...even when we don’t understand...even when we are afraid...as a rule...the more we trust God the more we will see, the more we obey His Word the more of His Word we will see...as the writer of Hebrews encourages us (Hebrews 12:2)...let our eyes always be “looking unto Jesus” - for in Him we will find clarity of vision, in Him we will experience transformation, in Him we can help one another “see”.