A Vision Of Love
Have you ever tried on someone else’s glasses? It’s kind of funny—in most cases (other than with plain, non-prescription sun glasses), almost immediately you want to take them off. Then you are inclined to laugh and ask the be speckled person. “How can you see through these things, anyway?” Well, of course, you both know the reason why. Those glasses were designed to correct the visual problems of that particular person—not of you.
Many people are nearsighted. They can see things close up, but not at a distant. If you look through the glasses of someone who has rather sever myopia (near-sightedness), objects may appear super-sharp at first. But after a few seconds, you feel the uncomfortable tension of your eye muscles straining to see properly. Those glasses were not meant for you. On the other hand, elderly folks are often farsighted; they can see objects far away but not close up, so they usually need glasses for reading fine print. But when younger people try on their glasses, objects just appear distorted and blurry.
In a message for today—the message to Laodicea—Jesus bids us to anoint our eyes with a special prescription custom made to each of us: Eyesalve in order to see better (Revelation 3:18). What kinds of things should we be seeing better? Often, like a spiritual myopic, we may be able to see what we want here and now, but fail to distinguish the faraway future results of these plans. Thus, the eyesalve of Christ would come in handy to help us make better decisions.
Another thing that we tend to already see well is the defects of others. We can see their defects a lot more easily than we see our own. Jesus said, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41, 42. So, asking Christ for His eyesalve can also help us in this regard.
Perhaps you have heard of eye conditions that either progress or degenerate gradually. Jesus’ healing can come in stages. “{Jesus} took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town, and when He had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that He put His hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” Mark 8:23-25. Notice that the Lord took him out of his regular environment for a while to help him see more clearly and even then, the cure was not wrought all at once.
Christ often shows us things little by little—our keenness of perception develops gradually. Especially should we learn to tell the difference between right and wrong. The world has made a lot of moral issues awfully blurry today by calling what’s right wrong and what’s wrong right. So we need Christ’s eyesalve for this condition, too.
Have you ever hear the phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” or, “he sees the world through rose colored glasses”? These expressions show how much our own attitude affects how we perceive something. “The unconverted man thinks of god as unloving, as severe, and even revengeful; His presence is thought to be a constant restraint, His character an expression of ‘thou shalt not,’ His service is regarded as full of gloom and hard requirements. But when Jesus is seen upon the cross, as the gift of God because He loved man, the eyes are opened to see things in a new light. God as revealed in Christ is not a severe judge, an avenging tyrant, but a merciful and loving Father.
“As we see Jesus dying upon the cross to save man, the heart echoes the words of John, ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not’ (1 John 3:1). There is nothing that more decidedly distinguishes the Christian from the worldly man than the estimate he has of God.”—Selected Messages 1 p 182, 184
God is balanced. He is just yet merciful. He is serious about what He expects of us, yet His tremendous love for us is sufficient to motivate and strengthen us to live godly lives. He offers to cleanse and purify our hearts if we will only cooperate with Him. Then the greatest vision possible can be ours: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
B. Monteiro