Sunday, July 06, 2008
Learning To See Without A Log In My Eye
I see with my eyes but I also see with the eyes of my heart.
These eyes of my heart are the ones referred to in scripture time and time again.
While living life in this world (but not being of this world) I duel vision.
What my fleshly eyes see and what my spiritual eyes see.
Now I changed my reference to my eyes of my heart to "spiritual eyes" because it is my hope and intent that these eyes would watch The Spirit.
However, to give them the name spiritual eyes may be misleading because I do not always see The Spirit .
The Spirit is always leading me and The Spirit is always visible to me , it is I that may have logs in my eyes . (Ref. to believers in Christ being able to follow the Spirit found in Romans 8 and ref. to believers having logs [beams] in their eyes found in Matt.7:3)
Whenever a log is removed from my eye I feel it ! Oh yes, I feel it ! Just like a small tooth being removed from my mouth at the dentist's office. For days I feel as though the Grand Canyon has moved into my mouth.
Same way with a log in my eyes of my heart. Removal may also be painful and getting accustomed to the loss of the log may take some getting use to .
However, JOY, great JOY is added to my life as I can see more clearly now.
Seeing Myself With Value.
Here is a story that helped me recently.
The parable found in Matt.25:14-30 about the servant who hides his talent under the tree seems pretty easy to understand. Don't be lazy , right ? Yes, but here is more .
The servant's excuse for hiding the talent under the tree could be his excuse for laziness . However, it could also be his reason for why he thought that was all that was expected of him. Have I placed my talent where I think my master would want me to place it ? Have I perceived myself to be of less value than others because my master has given more to others ?
In a world of "don't think more highly of yourself than you are" it seems unlikely that a master who gives a servant just one talent , when he has given other servants more, would expect much at all from the one talent.
Yet I know he does because this is a parable about the kingdom of God.
This servant might not be lazy, he might not know the value his master has placed on his choices pertaining to the kingdom of God.
There are preparations to be made for His arrival as well and He is expecting His saints to be doing them. Yet if a servant who has been given a talent and believes that his choices are of no value or out of fear hides what little he has been given, the sin is not laziness but unbelief .
My word of testimony today is that the sin of unbelief is forgiven and cleansed from all who confess this sin to our Father who is in heaven.
(1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
Forgiveness is instantaneous but cleansing may take a while. I will not give up until I am certain I have not laid even one talent under the tree. I will believe that the talent He has given me is of value and He does care what I do with it. He not only cares He is expecting me to have something to show for it.
These eyes of my heart are the ones referred to in scripture time and time again.
While living life in this world (but not being of this world) I duel vision.
What my fleshly eyes see and what my spiritual eyes see.
Now I changed my reference to my eyes of my heart to "spiritual eyes" because it is my hope and intent that these eyes would watch The Spirit.
However, to give them the name spiritual eyes may be misleading because I do not always see The Spirit .
The Spirit is always leading me and The Spirit is always visible to me , it is I that may have logs in my eyes . (Ref. to believers in Christ being able to follow the Spirit found in Romans 8 and ref. to believers having logs [beams] in their eyes found in Matt.7:3)
Whenever a log is removed from my eye I feel it ! Oh yes, I feel it ! Just like a small tooth being removed from my mouth at the dentist's office. For days I feel as though the Grand Canyon has moved into my mouth.
Same way with a log in my eyes of my heart. Removal may also be painful and getting accustomed to the loss of the log may take some getting use to .
However, JOY, great JOY is added to my life as I can see more clearly now.
Seeing Myself With Value.
Here is a story that helped me recently.
The parable found in Matt.25:14-30 about the servant who hides his talent under the tree seems pretty easy to understand. Don't be lazy , right ? Yes, but here is more .
The servant's excuse for hiding the talent under the tree could be his excuse for laziness . However, it could also be his reason for why he thought that was all that was expected of him. Have I placed my talent where I think my master would want me to place it ? Have I perceived myself to be of less value than others because my master has given more to others ?
In a world of "don't think more highly of yourself than you are" it seems unlikely that a master who gives a servant just one talent , when he has given other servants more, would expect much at all from the one talent.
Yet I know he does because this is a parable about the kingdom of God.
This servant might not be lazy, he might not know the value his master has placed on his choices pertaining to the kingdom of God.
There are preparations to be made for His arrival as well and He is expecting His saints to be doing them. Yet if a servant who has been given a talent and believes that his choices are of no value or out of fear hides what little he has been given, the sin is not laziness but unbelief .
My word of testimony today is that the sin of unbelief is forgiven and cleansed from all who confess this sin to our Father who is in heaven.
(1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
Forgiveness is instantaneous but cleansing may take a while. I will not give up until I am certain I have not laid even one talent under the tree. I will believe that the talent He has given me is of value and He does care what I do with it. He not only cares He is expecting me to have something to show for it.
