Sam, an elderly man, was called to testify in a burglary case. The defense attorney leaned forward and asked, “Did you actually see my client commit this burglary?”  “Yes,” Sam answered without hesitation. “I saw him plainly take the goods.”

The lawyer tried again. “Sam, this happened at night. Are you sure you saw my client commit this crime?”  “Yes, I saw him do it.”

Still not satisfied, the attorney decided to challenge the old man’s eyesight. “Now, Sam, you’re 80 years old. Your vision can’t be what it used to be. Just how far can you see at night?”

Without missing a beat, Sam smiled and said, “I can see the moon. How far is that?”

Good physical eyesight is important, but even more important is good spiritual eyesight.  We need to see ourselves the way God sees us. That isn’t always easy. Most of us naturally notice the faults in other people long before we recognize the sins and weaknesses in our own hearts. We become experts at making excuses for ourselves while expecting others to do better.

We also need to see our need for God’s grace. It’s easy to become comfortable with where we are spiritually. We may attend worship faithfully, know our Bibles, and stay away from obvious sins, yet still become proud, self-satisfied, or spiritually stagnant. Whenever that happens, we stop growing because we’ve convinced ourselves we’ve already arrived.

Finally, we need a clear vision of what God wants us to become. The Christian life isn’t simply about avoiding evil. It’s about being transformed into the likeness of Christ. By God’s grace, we can become more patient, more forgiving, more generous, more humble, and more loving than we are today.

That’s why Jesus’ words to the church in Laodicea are so sobering:  “For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,’ not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18)

The tragedy wasn’t just that the Christians in Laodicea were blind. It was that they didn’t know they were blind. They thought everything was fine when, in reality, they desperately needed spiritual healing.

The people who are easiest for God to help are not those who think they see perfectly. They’re the ones humble enough to admit they need better vision. When we ask God to open our eyes, he will show us both who we really are and who, through his grace, we can become.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see myself honestly and to recognize that I need Your grace. Remove any spiritual blindness that keeps me from growing into the person You have called me to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day