Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

Laser Vision (11/2/00)

I entered a new ocular phase last week: Lasik laser surgery. After a few examinations & a ten minute visit to the surgical suite, my eyes were precision-blasted to near perfection. I went from 20/1600 to 20/40, instantly. A mere twenty-four hours later, I was driving, reading, & working on the computer, & within the week I was chasing that little blue ball around the raquetball court again, sans contact or any other corrective lenses!

This whole eye thing has opened my eyes to some deeper stuff as well. Like the fact that light is required to see anything clearly. Maybe it's because I haven't really seen darkness so clearly in such a long time, but let me tell you, darkness is very fuzzy, especially first thing in the morning! I got out of bed today & just stood there, thinking something terrible had happened to my eyes overnight. Everything was blurry, until I turned on the light! And then it hit me: good vision is worthless without light. Hmmm. My mind continued to process this new revelation. It doesn't really matter how sharp a thinker I am, or how knowledgeable I am about the Bible; if I'm not walking in the light of Christ, I'm walking in darkness & my sight isn't sight at all. Pretty heady stuff for 6:15 a.m.!

But there's more. It is so weird to look over in the middle of the night & be able to read the alarm clock! Out of habit, I still reach for my glasses every morning, & every night I fight the urge to "take out my eyes," (which is what I called removing my contact lenses.) I'm hoping that eventually these "learned behaviors" will fade, but it may take a while. If you've ever tried to change a habit, you know what I'm talking about. It's no different in the spiritual realm.

Twenty-one years ago, Jesus reshaped my soul. The power of Calvary zapped away my guilt & broke sin's power in my life, but guess what? Some of those habits I had developed in my "blind" state hung around. Like reaching for glasses in the morning, I still find myself reaching for things I no longer need to function in life. Things like a critical spirit. An unloving remark. A stubborn reluctance to forgive. And a host of other things I'd just as soon keep to myself. In a word, I suppose, selfishness. Perhaps the hardest habit of all to get free of.

John's first epistle has a lot of references to this light motif. For instance, he writes, "If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie & do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, & the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." (1Jn. 1:6f)

I've heard that the prolific blind hymnwriter Fanny Crosby once said that if having her sight back meant a loss of spiritual vitality, she'd prefer to stay blind. I think I'm beginning to understand what she meant. After all, what's the sense of sight, if I can't see Jesus? Or if you can't see Him in me?

Here's looking at you -


Jim Dewar --