“As a general matter,” Stan commented one morning, “it’s a whole lot easier for me to see if I choose to see.”
“Choose to see what?” I asked.
“Everything,” was his one-word reply. “If I choose to not open my eyes, I will not see what God has for me to see.”
“Why would you or anyone choose to not see what God has for them to see?”
“Self,” Stan replied. “That’s certainly the answer for me. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that self-focus is what keeps my eyes shut to what God has for me to see. And it’s not just physical sight. There’s a whole world of things that God wants me to see from a spiritual perspective that I can’t or won’t see if I don’t choose to see.”
“Just as a simple example,” he continued, “this morning God had me focusing on two totally different Bible verses that, in essence, said the same thing. One was the account of John the Baptist seeing and recognizing Jesus when he saw Him coming to be baptized. It took me a long time to see Jesus in the way John the Baptist did.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus coming,” Stan replied. “He said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’. It took me a long time to come to see Jesus in that way. My failure to recognize or see Jesus for who He is would have had eternal consequences had I not had my eyes opened to see and to accept by faith the free and gracious gift of life eternally with God when my time here is done.”
“Okay,” I said, “eternal consequences for not seeing. You mentioned you looked at another verse on this. Did that one have the same point?”
“Not in the sense of direct eternal consequences,” Stan replied. “It was in the apostle John’s first letter and has to do with my life on this side of eternity where he wrote about the love of God not being in me if I see my brother in need but don’t do anything.”
“So if you see and don’t do anything, it’s kind of like not seeing at all,” I commented.
“Kind of like,” Stan replied, “but it seems to me that seeing and not doing is a whole lot worse than not seeing at all. It’s like my heart is closed to seeing what God has for my eyes to see.”
“I think I got it,” I said. “I think I see what you are saying. It’s a whole lot easier to see if I choose to see!”
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Bible verses to consider:
But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 1 John 3:17.
The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin or the world!” John 1:29.
Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for opening my eyes to see Jesus and to recognize and to accept by faith the salvation and redemption provided by His life, death, and resurrection. Thank you that through my acceptance of His free gift of salvation I can look forward to spending eternity with you when it is time. Thank you, too, for your provision of the Holy Spirit who is in me to open me to see all you want me to see on this side of eternity. I confess that too often I choose not to see because I want to focus on what I want apart from you. Please forgive me. And please, Father, help me in following your lead in being totally open to see all you have for me to see. To see and to respond in accordance with your will. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you seen and accepted God’s free and gracious gift of salvation so you will spend eternity in His presence? If no, why? What is standing in the way between you and God? If you do have the assurance of salvation for when your time here is done, how are you doing in seeing what God has for you to see on this side of eternity? As well as you would like? As well as God would like? If you sense some changes may be in order, how are those changes going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 