I recently had cataract surgery. For you youngsters let me explain it to you. As we age most of us will develop cataracts. In simple language, the lens of your eye becomes cloudy. It is like looking at the world through extremely dirty glasses that you cannot clean. I knew I was having trouble seeing, especially when my wife was screaming; “That’s a ditch not a driveway!” She used to scream about other things while I was driving but that is another story. Anyway, again for those too young to yet know about this issue, the surgery removes the cataract and inserts a new lens. It is amazing how quickly one’s vision changes. I could not only easily distinguish the difference between a ditch and a driveway as well as read road signs again. I had forgotten how the increasingly cloudy vision had affected the vividness of colors and seeing details. We have several bird-feeders in our back yard and love to sit and watch the birds. My wife would say look at the number of Cardinals around a certain feeder and I hated to admit that I could barely see the feeder. The morning after my surgery I sat and saw the most beautiful bright red Cardinal and not only could see the vibrant coloring of all the markings but individual feathers. I thought, “Wow, I had forgotten how much I had been missing.”
The lens by which we view life can make all the
difference. I am not just thinking of
the physical lens in our eye but the way we see and perceive. There are some who go through life looking at
the world through the lens of prejudice.
They look down on those who are different in skin color, ethnicity, and
educational, social or financial status.
Some have a distorted lens and viewpoint concerning people from
different countries or different parts of this country. People can develop a different lens to see a
cloudy inaccurate vision of people with different political or religious
beliefs. Others look at the world
through a lens of anger, bitterness, jealousy, or any number of negative views
that cloud and distort the truth.
We all need to have times to examine the clarity of what I call our lens of ‘spiritual vision’. The spiritual anatomy is different from the physical anatomy. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:8 that those who are “pure in heart” are “blessed” because they “will see God”. So as the physical eyes often need a faulty lens removed and replaced with a clear new lens to give a clear, undistorted view of how things truly look; a heart that is pure sees God, which is true and accurate. Such clear, accurate and Godly vision sees the beauty of each individual life God has created rather than a distorted critical unloving and unforgiving view. It is a vision that looks through the lens of love and grace. As we go through life in this “sin-scarred” world with all of its trials and troubles it is easy to develop a ‘spiritual cataract’ that causes a distorted vision that benefits no one but in fact can be quite harmful.
My physical cataract was discovered as I went for regular
checkups and the eye doctor performed several tests to discover the reason for
the change in my vision. A ‘spiritual cataract’ can be detected by
a Spiritual heart exam. Ask yourself
some of the following questions…and be honest with your answers: How is your
state of joy? Are you easily angered? Do you have some people that you just can’t
seem to forgive? Are you impatient with
others? Do you find it impossible to
feel love for certain people? Do you
think that other people are the cause of most if not all of your problems or
difficulty?
That is enough to get you started. You will begin to develop your own questions
that indicate the condition of your Spiritual heart. Once you diagnose the problem(s) confess them
to God. I John 1:9 says; “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Take it from me.
There is nothing like clear, undistorted vision that will show you the
way things really look. There is also
nothing like having a heart that is clear and pure of distortion. Life is too short not to see all of its
beauty in a clear and undistorted fashion.
God’s world and the people He created are also too precious not to be
seen without His clear vision.
