I’m nearly convinced that the main struggle in the Christian life is the struggle to see. Not “to see” in the sense of light waves and optic nerves and brain sensations. “To see” in the sense that Jesus meant: “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” (Mt 13:15)
The language of seeing is all over the place in the Bible. Why are certain people Christians and others not? Because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel” (2 Cor 4:4). How do Christians grow more like Jesus? By “beholding the glory of the Lord, [thus] being transformed” (2 Cor 3:18). What motivates us to endure suffering? The eyesight of Moses, who “endured as seeing him who is invisible” (Heb 11:27). How should we pray for each other? Like Paul, who prayed “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Eph 1:18). Apparently, the main struggle in the Christian life is the struggle to really see what we see.
For example, I doubt if we would be so flippant about how we spend our days if we could see that life is a vapor. I doubt if we would sin so quickly if we could see the deadly poison underneath the candy coating of temptation. I doubt if we would be so attached to earth and so apathetic about heaven if we could see the emptiness here compared with the magnificence there. I doubt if we would treat people with such condescension and disdain if we could see that the priceless blood of Jesus flowed for their forgiveness.
So open your eyes! Someday this week, take time simply to ponder a tree, a cloud, an animal, or a person. Cultivate your ability to see. Don’t over-analyze; just observe and enjoy. Try, at least for a little while, to recapture the vision you had as a child.
Christian living is Christian seeing. Perhaps John Newton was right in more ways than one when he described his conversion: “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”