How’s your (spiritual) eyesight?

“Better? Or worse?”

I wonder how often the average optician says that phrase in their career?! As someone who’s worn glasses since a child, I’ve heard it a fair bit. You look at the same thing twice, but with a different lens, and you have to decide which one is better. Some lenses make things clearer. Some lenses make things worse. Today I want to ask you a similar question: how’s your eyesight?

Here are the words Paul wrote to some early Christians that inspired this newsletter:

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)

Quite often I focus on the last bit of that. You know, the bit that is really really good news! Because I have thrown my life in with Jesus, my old life is gone and a new life is given to me – hallelujah! (We should never stop focusing on that part!)

But did you spot what came first? Apparently, part of this new life is that we get new eyesight – ‘we regard no one from a worldly point of view’. In other words, we get a different lens, and because Jesus is Jesus things always get clearer. Better, not worse! Let’s put it another way:

As a Christian, you are able to see things a non-Christian cannot. You can see like Jesus.

So, let’s think about that a bit, and I’m going to use the four parts of CODE (the four big ideas in my book) to do so. For each, a question to ponder in your own discipleship.

Confidence: Jesus’ eyesight is perfect!

Every morning, one of the first things I do is put on my glasses (I’m very shortsighted so I really need them). And you know what: they ALWAYS work! Simply put, they are exactly the lenses I need to be able to see things totally clearly. And that is what Jesus is for us. He—and only he—has the perfect 20/20 spiritual vision to see everything exactly as it is.

So if we want to see our workplaces, our families, the TV we watch, even ourselves, completely accurately, we need Jesus. But very often I know I forget that. I assume I have things sussed or that other lenses (maybe my political views, my preferences, my culture) aren’t blurry. But they are.

Q: do you really believe that only Jesus sees everything exactly as it is?

Obedience: the choice to open our eyes

If I use an old prescription or just refuse to put my glasses on, I don’t benefit from them. Paul is clear that if we’re in Christ then the new (including new perspective) has already come. But he’s also clear that we need to decide to look at things from God’s perspective.

In Colossians 3:2, he says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Similar idea, but developed differently. In Christ we  aren’t bound by our earthly perspective. But we need to make a choice not to.

Q: what habits can you put in place to seek and find Jesus’ perspective on things in your life?

Dependence: it’s not just better, it’s different

The glasses image is a good one for another reason, too. Glasses don’t cure my shortsightedness. My eyes don’t get better better because of them. If I want to keep seeing well, I have to keep putting them on.

The same is true with Jesus. If we want to keep seeing things more as he does, we need to keep depending on him to give us his sight day after day after day. It’s not that we need him until he’s patched us up and then we can go it alone. It is as we remain ‘in Christ’ that we remain able to see as he does. He’s with us to the end of the age for a reason!

Q: how much do you rely on Jesus’ perspective instead of your own?

Experience: clearer and clearer and clearer

This is where the glasses image breaks down (all good illustrations do!). Glasses are a quick fix. Without them, I can’t see. With them, I suddenly can! With, Jesus, we’ve already seen there is a choice involved and a partnership with him to embrace if we want to see things as he does. And both of those are things we can grow in. We never move past our need of him, but we do grow in this, seeing things more and more clearly over time.

This side of heaven, we’ll never see everything perfectly (‘now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face’). But in Christ it can get better, not worse. And if that is happening, we will have our perspectives change over time, not just stand still.

Q: where is your growth? What do you see differently now than you used to?