“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.” (Luke 11:34-35, ESV)
Two individuals side by side, looking at the same object, should see the same thing. Right? Not necessarily.
Differing visual acuities, color sensitivities, brain function, eye health, or any number of other factors in the complex process of sight could lead to widely differing results. Bottom line—two of us can look at the same thing and see it differently (or not at all). Often we only see what we expect to see.
Our brains may not process things that don’t fit into our preconceptions or paradigms. Such was the case with the church of the Middle Ages, a church that had sidelined Scripture in favor of papal edicts and a quest for power, influence, and affluence. They possessed the light, they talked about the light, but their eyes were trained not to see it.
As a result, darkness descended. But light kept shining—even when sight had failed. It illuminated the gloom of a corrupt church world, and there were some with eyes to see.
Men and women like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Katharina Schütz Zell, and Argula von Grumbach gave their lives to the cause of spreading that light, and the message of salvation by grace through faith traveled like wildfire to hearts ready to receive it.
So how’s your eyesight? Are you embracing the light? Are your spiritual eyes healthy? Or are you so blinded by your own ideas and selfish pursuits that your light has become darkness?
God give us eyes to see!
Originally published in God’s Revivalist. Used by permission.
