Having better vision

I have had to wear corrective lens since I was sixteen years old.  Maybe I should have eaten more carrots as a youngster.  Maybe it is something genetic.  The irony is that I am the only one of my siblings who has needed corrective lens (Besides reading glasses).  I'm not sure why I am the one who was blessed with nearsightedness, but I can distinctly remember when I knew I needed glasses.  I was a junior in high school and sitting in my normal seat (The back row of the class).  I had to ask a friend what the teacher was writing on board.  I just figured the teacher had bad had writing, but this started to happen in every class.  The unthinkable was to actually move a seat closer to the front of class, so I went to have my eyes examined.  There was some nearsightedness - Just enough to make objects far away blurry.  Over the years, my vision has slipped a little at a time.  I could actually go without glasses, but I wouldn't be allowed to drive and most things would be blurry.  I would have trouble recognizing people and would have to get very close to signs to read them.  My glasses and contact lens allow me to see things with clarity.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds the follower of Christ that we also need spiritual corrective lens.  Too often we go through life and see what we see.  However, there is much going on in the spiritual realm that we miss because we just go on our own vision.  This vision is limited and keeps us seeing blurry visions.  Often, circumstances only make sense in retrospect because we do not have spiritually clear vision.  This passage is applicable to everything we encounter during the day, if we take the time to see as the Spirit leads.  However, I am usually too busy to stop and look at life from God's perspective.  Most of life is viewed from my perspective and what I can see.  So I guess I actually do have an "I" problem.

Yesterday was a great example:  After church, we planned to pass out flyers to every home on the hill.  This is one of the few times during the year that our church will knock on doors and go out actively in the community.  That process of being in the community is the one thing Satan does not want the church to do.  He doesn't mind if we have great events at our church or plan huge musical events in the church.  He does mind when we go out to share the love of Christ with the community.  We initiate a turf war with him.  So it should not have surprised me when this past Sunday we had the smallest attendance we have had in months.  I looked at the lack of cars in the parking lot and got very discouraged.  There was no way we would have enough people to knock on every door.  As I preached the sermon which I have been working on for months, I got to the final point:  "Trust God's hand".  In front of the congregation, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I had not trusted God's hand, but was only looking at what I could see.  I needed to confess that to the congregation and allow the Lord to give me renewed energy for the day.  I was surprised by the number of people who stayed to pass out flyers and how many homes we were able to visit.  No, we only visited nine of eleven zones, but we ran out of flyers not out of homes or people visiting.  Once again, I had the wrong vision! 

So this week, as we prepare for our Hillcrest Community Fair, I am going to try to have better vision.  Not just with this outreach but in every aspect of my life:  My marriage, my children, my family, my neighbors, my free time, etc.  How about you?  Are you willing to see things from God's perspective and put on His vision so you can see more clearly?  Don't spend this week in blurry vision, but let His Word guide you to see more clearly.  May this Sip From the Well refresh you to have eyes that are open!