Godly Vision

 

  Pastor Fred kicked off a new series by preaching out of Ephesians 1:15-23.  I echo what Pastor Fred said and I encourage everyone to spend some time reading the book of Ephesians so that we be transformed by Gods grace. Also a little context, while Paul was writing this letter, he was locked up in prison because he was proclaiming the Gospel. One things that impresses me is that even though Paul was in prison, he was still proclaiming Gods grace. 

  One of the main points that I observed and that Pastor Fred preached on is about our vision or our eyesight. How often do we see things through our own eyes and try to convince God that how we see life is the way He should see life. How often do we tell God our life stinks and that He should do something about it. Or do we follow certain news programming or particular people because we agree on how the see life. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t listen to these people, but are we filtering what they say and do through how God sees things. My prayer is that we start seeing things as God sees them.?  

  One of the things that makes cults so popular is that there is an element of truth within their belief system, but that truth gets so distorted that it becomes a bold face lie. This is where we need the eyes of Jesus so we can decipher between what is actual truth and what is aimed at making us feel better. Or something that is scary is bold face lies that people try to pass off as Christianity. Jehovah Witnesses try to pass themselves off as Orthodox Christians but if you are to dive into their theology, you would realize that they don’t view Jesus as the Son of God, but a god. This means that there is no Trinity and this is an essential part of Orthodox Christianity. So are we praying to have Gods eyes so we can develop discernment and know the difference between wheat and chaff?

  Another thing about having the eyes of God is realizing that we are greatly loved. Within Greek (what the New Testament was written in), there are several different words and meanings for the word love. They can range from a brotherly love to a sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is loving someone with everything you have and are willing to lay down your life for that person. The other part of sacrificial love is not so much giving what someone wants but what they need. The best part about Gods sacrificial love is that there is nothing that we can do to earn it. The only thing we can do, is respond to that love. Do we live a holy life honoring God or do we do what we want to do and self destruct?

  I will close with this. When we have Gods eyes, or vision, we can properly put this life into perspective. As mentioned before, Paul was jailed for his faith at the time he wrote this letter. He still found joy and was dedicated to teaching the church of Ephesus through letter writing. Paul knew that the trials of this world has nothing on God and His goodness. We don’t let the trials of this world keep us down because Gods love and grace is greater. 

  There is the famous hymn Be Thou My Vision is based on a poem. The author of this poem was blind when he wrote it. Even though he could not physically see, he still knew what it meant to have Gods vision. So my final question is do we have Gods vision or are we to distracted and focus on everything but God?

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead