Daily Devotion for October 17, 2006

My Eyes for His

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24

 

When I was in grade school I had to get my first pair of glasses. What I remember is how shocked everyone seemed to be to find out how bad my eyes really were. I hadn't complained much because I didn't know any better. I didn't realize my eyes were bad. Actually I just thought I couldn't read because I was stupid. I sure wasn't going to tell my parents that! They used to check your eyes in school back then, and it was through a school check-up that my poor eyesight was discovered. I remember putting those glasses on and I couldn't believe how different the world looked to me. The trees had definition instead of just the blurred images. People had eyes and not just dark holes on their faces, and I was excited about it all. I read everything, and a new world started to open up to me, one that I was fascinated with. I felt like the world had swallowed me up and I was now a part of it.

 

 When I started investing time in God it was like when I got that first pair of glasses. The world had become so ugly to me, and I just thought that this was how things were. I didn't know any different. By spending time with God, I began to understand who God really was and the great measure of love He had for me, as imperfect as I am. I still had to deal with the pain and the sins of others as well as my own, but there was hope. That hope was in Christ Jesus and that hope gave meaning to my life. It gave new vision to old eyes.

 

 The world didn't seem so ugly anymore, and it wasn't a mass of blurred images of right and wrong that I just had to live with. A desire grew from some unknown corner within me. That desire was to pray for others and to be a part of what was right and to hopefully change at least one wrong. Christ took me out of myself and helped me see the world through His eyes...His eyes of compassion and mercy. Today I praise God for the new creation He made in me.

 

Prayer
Father, I thank you for giving me sight. I still falter and you still pick me up. You have not given up on me, and I humbly ask your forgiveness for the sins I still struggle with. I give them to you, Father. I thank you Father. Father, most of all help me always to be faithful to you to the very end of my days. Amen.

 

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