WITH MY EYES

I was doing research once for this novel I was writing that was a spiritual fantasy. I was including in it for comparison purposes some of the beliefs of other religions than Christianity. So that meant wading through numerous teachings that I didn’t personally believe so I might find some foundation of what was the basics of their teaching.

With one particular belief system among its supposed gems was a reflection about the things that corrupt our senses and keep us from always seeing the truth. I will admit that there was a core of veracity in that observation. We are human and are senses are hardly always perfect. However I do also realize how often we are more prone to trust to our experiences than any facts that might contradict such experiences.

Which is why I think the hardest part about any discussion with somebody on the subject or religion is because of the issue of experience. What we perceive will always take precedence over what we are told his true.

The question is can our soul’s eyes of witness ever be wrong? The honest answer might be yes, but I doubt you will ever get someone to admit it.

What seems more real is that in order for our soul’s eyes to have a vision change means we have to have a different experience. For since we are so dependent upon experience for our “spectacles” of thought, then we some experience occurs in our lives that changes our vision it is more apt to be permanent. Perhaps that is part of the reason the Lord grants us the challenge at times of such experiences that might in some ways at the time make us question their benefit.

I think it is fair to ask ourselves then if experience is so critical do we honestly pray for God to grant such experience to those who are unsaved? Or are we more inclined to try and “help” the situation by trying to “preach” new eyes into a non-believer?

I’m not suggesting that evangelism is a bad thing? I am suggesting that perhaps being human there are times when we should trust to God’s wisdom in terms of touching the life of someone not yet saved.

Like too many situations, we are each different. And the paths of light that guide to salvation are many and varied along the highway of Christianity. Hopefully along the way we become a signposts that truly serves the Lord in pointing a person in the right direction rather than a detour or road block that somehow inhibits another’s journey.

With my eyes I pray I shall see what the Lord seeks them to witness through his vision of truth. And to be willing to accept when my vision gets blurred by the weakness within.

Hopefully it will be a gaze that inspires and encourages. But sometimes we all understand that to really appreciate beauty one has to also be able to see what is ugly. And to do so without letting it keep us from seeing what God wants us to see.