What's wrong with your eyes?

Deuteronomy 12:8

You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—9 For as yet, you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the lord your God is giving you.

Recently I had to get some reading glasses. I turned 40 and I was having problems reading small print. I never needed glasses before, but I had to admit I wasn’t seeing like I used to. It’s quite natural that the older you get, the more help you need with your eyes.

A lot of us have trouble seeing. We just don’t want to admit it. We don’t want to get help with our vision because our ego says, “I see it just fine.” Truth be told when you don’t see it at all, it can get you into a lot of trouble. How much are you missing in life because you can’t see everything clear?

Moses was instructing the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land and reminding them that where they were presently had to be different than where they were going. They needed a prescription for their eyes. He told them you can’t continue to do whatever you think is right in your own eyes. This is exactly where our current society is today. Every man and woman is making up their own rules for life. Whatever is right in their opinion, whatever feels right to them, whatever seems morally right or politically correct they do it, but the problem is that we have no guidelines to make sure we are seeing things right.

When I went to the optometrist, he made me look at a chart. He was able to correct my vision based upon how I read the chart. He’s seen over a thousand different people who were given different prescriptions, but they all read the same chart.

There is a universal timeless chart that God uses to make sure every man and woman has 20/20 spiritual vision, it’s called the bible. If we want to align our vision to God’s will for our lives, we need to read the same chart that has saved many people from seeing it wrong.

Why does it matter that I see it correctly and not do whatever I think is right? Because how you see it determines whether or not you get your inheritance. Jesus would often tell people, how to inherit the Kingdom of God and his teaching would offend them to the point they wanted to kill him. On one occasion, the disciples told Jesus that his teaching offended the religious leaders of his day. Jesus replied in Matthew 15:13 13He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides.[a] If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

If we want to avoid pitfalls by following other blind folks into cultural pits, I think we all need to:

1. Check your vision. Find you a pastor who teaches the bible and let them help you get your vision in alignment with God’s will. On one occasion, Jesus touched a blind man’s eyes and asked him what he saw. He said he saw men walking around like trees. Jesus touched him a second time and he saw clearly. Sometimes it takes a second touch. Your vision has changed from when you were a child. That first baptism opened your eyes, but have you received a second touch by getting back into a church so you can check your vision. What have you been seeing lately?

2. Get you a chart. Purchase a bible and start reading it every day. Read a chapter from the Old Testament and the New Testament every day and then write in a journal the things that God is showing you.

3. Get you some glasses if you need them. Don’t be ashamed to make adjustments when life gets out of focus. You might have to get some counseling, (glasses). You might have to stop dating certain people (glasses). You might have to change professions, (glasses). What adjustments are needed so you can see clearly?

In the movie the Matrix, Neo is unplugged from the system and brought aboard the ship called Zion. The matrix made Neo think that he was happy as long as the system fed him images of shallow happiness, a job, pretty women, and sensual pleasures. When Morpheus unplugged him and brought him to the examination room, Neo complained that his eyes were hurting. He asked Morpheus why his eyes were hurting. Morpheus answered, “Because you haven't used them in a long time.” Are your eyes hurting?

Dear God help me to see it like you see it. I want to see again. Open the eyes of my heart Lord so I can see your will for my life. Free me from the matrix and the blinding gaze of my own ego. Help me to make the necessary adjustments to see what you want me to see.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.