The Beauty of Sight
I marveled at the beauty of the world all the way home on my 30-minute drive from the eye doctor. I just got glasses for the first time in my life. As I drove home, I was amazed by the clarity of the large, fluffy clouds in front of me. They were dark gray underneath, argent up top in the sun with a brilliant blue sky in the background. I could see ripples and curves and definition I had missed before. The vivid green of the leaves on trees as I passed stood out as individual leaves. Where before I had seen green grass lining the highway, now I perceived what appeared to be each individual blade of grass. The effect was overwhelming and intoxicating.
We live in an amazingly beautiful world. Yes, it is fallen. Sin corrupts and twists every aspect of life in this world. Yet even through all that corruption, the beauty of creation is a marvel. Even the most mundane scene from nature has the ability to astound us if we take time to consider it. Colors abound everywhere (yes, even for the partially colorblind). Vitality is evident in plants, insects, animals, and people. Stones speak of endurance, cool breezes testify of God’s mercy, the sky above shouts God’s praise.
Proverbs tells us that all of creation was brought into being through the wisdom of God. There isn’t a facet of creation that scientists fully understand even after hundreds of study. From the simplest structures to the most complex, they all exhibit unimaginable wisdom in design. A butterfly wing is both beautiful and beyond our ability to mimic. We can describe the way light reflects off of water but pondering the “why” of it is immense. And this is the fallen world. The original creation and the new creation are simply beyond our ability to conceive.
When We Lose Our Sight
I have officially joined the “over 40” crowd. That’s why I was at the eye doctor. As you get older, it’s not so much that your eyes don’t see well, it is that they lose the flexibility that allows you to change your focus. For most people, this results in difficulty focusing on objects up close. So, you end up holding items you are trying to read further and further away until you can focus on it well enough to read. I was expecting this and waiting for it to happen.
But while I have the same underlying problem, the result was different for me. My eyes were having trouble focusing on things further in the distance. I would have trouble seeing things further away, especially after I’d been focused on something up close. When you have trouble reading the menu at a restaurant, the problem is obvious and inconvenient. Mine was much less obvious and didn’t bother me much. Over the past few years, I had noticed it incidentally, but it was slowly affecting my ability to see.
I had no idea how bad things had gotten. But I started having some serious headaches and my wife suggested I go get my eyes tested. I figured I was dehydrated, or allergies were bothering me. But she reminded me that I tell her she’s the wisest person I know. So I went to have my eyes tested. Turns out things were worse than I thought. I had a hard time reading halfway down the eye chart. “That’s weird”, I thought. And then I got the glasses. Oh wow! Over 24 hours later I’m still absolutely amazed at the difference in my world. It is as vivid and shocking as the first time I saw an HD TV screen. I thought my TV looked great, and then I saw high definition. I thought the world looked fine and then I got glasses and could see in high definition.
We All Need Glasses
I think once again of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13,
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”. [1Co 13:12 ESV]
Sin is like a coating of dirt that covers our perception of the world. Literally everything we see is somewhat foggy, somewhat dim, gray, low definition. We don’t see the brilliance of the world God has made. Every morning we yawn through yet another sunrise, not even noticing. We pass a hundred trees without seeing. We hear songs we’ve heard a hundred times without being brought to tears at the piercing beauty of the melody. We yell at our children to stop making so much noise. We eat without tasting, smell bread without being overcome by the aroma. We feel the softness of our spouse’s hand without it sending shivers down our spine.
And this isn’t just for things in the physical realm. Hebrews is one of the most impactful and awe-inspiring books of the Bible. The author tackles the superiority of Christ to the angels, to Moses, to everything. And yet what does he say before he’s even halfway through the book?
“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing”. [Heb 5:11 ESV]
Shouts of joy should accompany the reading of Hebrews. Yet, we are dull of hearing. It’s just the next chapter in our yearly reading. We’ve heard it before. We know it. It’s just another sermon. We sing yet another hymn about the greatness of God without feeling much of anything. The pew is uncomfortable, I wonder what’s for lunch, what time is the game today? While God has given us a heart of flesh, it is still a work in progress. Much of the time, we live like we have a heart of stone.
We read the Bible and fail to truly see. We don’t even realize how blind we are. I was born with good eyesight, saw very well most of my life. And in just a few years, I slowly began to lose that sight and didn’t even remember that it had ever been very different. I couldn’t see what I had lost. Imagine if I had never seen? How would I even know what I was missing? We are born blind to the Bible. Apart from the Spirit, we still can’t see it.
The Doctor Will See You Now
If you sense that spiritual blindness in your own life, I have good news. The Great Physician is still in the business of healing blind eyes.
“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.” [Rev 3:18 ESV] 18
I could have failed to take my wife’s counsel. I’d still have a headache today. And I’d still be unaware of just how blind I had become. Christ calls to you today with wise counsel. Yes, your eyes are dull! But he offers you salve to anoint your eyes. You can SEE! Not just the beauty of creation, but the beauty of your Creator. Oh, come and buy this salve! Come and ask, and he will give it to you freely. And if you think nature can be beautiful, wait until you see what is still unseen in the Bible. It will make you gasp in amazement.
