A key quality of sight and seeing is to receive and perceive the things that come to us. So to help you catch why that is important let me discuss some insights into sight that you may not have realised.
I once knew a man who had very bad eyesight. As a child he didn’t realise he had a problem but as a youngster he was finally prescribed glasses. The next day going to school, standing on the train platform with his older brothers, he exclaimed “Wow! You can see the train before it reaches the platform!”
He obviously had very limited sight but thought it was normal. Wearing glasses revolutionised his life.
While that man’s problem was some fault in his eyes other people have the same problem with seeing things due to how they program what they notice. So many images come in through our eyes that we filter most of them and train ourselves to take note of certain things and ignore others.
When we are prompted to pay attention to specific things we can be surprised how often they occur and how few times we ever noticed them.
So take note that we don’t always ‘see’ what it is we are looking at. Those who have ‘eyes to see’ will gain much more understanding than those who are blind to things in clear sight.
Also understand the action of seeing. I recall being in discussions at times about how far I could see. People might ask, “Can you see that dead tree on the side of the hill?” Those who look for the tree might be tempted to squint and strain as if making their eyes look as hard as they can.
Such situations suggest that our eye does the seeing, as in reaching out to the object far away. It seems a bit like throwing a stone. “How far can you throw?”
Yet sight is actually the opposite of that. Our eyes do not send out a beam to reach a far away object. Our eyes are not active in sight, but passive. Our eyes ‘receive’ the image, they don’t reach out to grab it.
Consider the question ‘How far can you see?’ Have you seen the moon? It is 200,000 miles away (384,400 km). So surely you can see a long way.
What about the sun. Can you see that? Well it’s a lot further away than the moon. And what about the stars?
As I figure it, you have absolutely amazing eyes, since you can see things over 3 million light years away. That’s Fantastic!
Your eyes don’t see out millions of miles. They simply open like a window and allow the light to come in. So you don’t see millions of miles. Light from millions of miles reaches you. All you do is let it in and take note of it.
So we discover that seeing is a matter of perceiving things that have come to us.
Yes, we can make a point of looking around, making sure we gather as much input as we can get, but the process of seeing is simply that of ‘receiving’ things that have come to us.
Your challenge, then, is to ‘receive’ what you see. If you filter it out you will become blind to it. If you take note and see with wisdom and godly insight, then you won’t need better eyes.
Just as wearing glasses revolutionised life for the boy on the train platform, so opening your eyes to see with wisdom and godly perspective will revolutionise your life.
One of the works of God is to cause people to see what they have been blind to, so they can have their life transformed.
The Apostle Paul was sent by Jesus specifically to do that very thing.
“I will deliver you from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so they can receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 28:17,18
The prophet Isaiah talked of people’s eyes being opened.
“The eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unblocked.” Isaiah 35:5
“To open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.” Isaiah 42:7
King David asked God to open his eyes so he could understand more of the things of God.
“Open my eyes so I can see wonderful things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18
Your most important eyes are the eyes of your heart. With those eyes you perceive spiritual things that have everlasting glory.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened, so you will understand the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” Ephesians 1:18
You have amazing eyes. God has given you the ability to see and understand things that will bless you for eternity. But your natural eyes and the eyes of your heart may be blinded by the enemy or by your choice not to see what God shows you.
I urge you to pray like King David, asking God to open your natural eyes and the eyes of your heart, so you will receive the things God is showing you but which you have been blinded to.
And may God, in His grace open to you the wonderful Gift of Seeing.
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