…the Lord Jesus…has sent me
that you may receive your sight… —Acts 9:17
“When Paul received his
sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His
entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing
but Jesus Christ— “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul never again allowed
anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face
of Jesus Christ. […] The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the
ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling
passion of his life is Jesus Christ.” CHAMBERS
Paul’s experience on the road
to Damascus was dramatic. He not only
had an encounter with Jesus, but he lost his vision .. he was suddenly blind to
the world around him. Then he met a man named
Ananias who was the instrument that the Lord used to restore Paul’s
vision. But the point here is that Paul
now saw the world differently. It was
the difference between day and night. (Ephesians
1:17-18) Paul prayed “that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened” He wanted the Ephesians to have spiritual
understanding .. to see things the way
God sees them. Just as Paul had
experienced. It’s like Paul said in
Ephesians 6:12-13 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand.” If you are spending your time
looking at flesh and blood, people, the world as the source of the problem, you
do not have spiritual understanding. Everything
has a spiritual context. It is critical
that you understand that. This is a
devotion, not a book, so I don’t have the room to delve into everything that
truth implies. Suffice it to say that
your response to what happens every day, is a measure of whether you see the
world through natural or spiritual eyes.
Can you see that no matter
what goes on in this world, that God is in control. That no matter what happens to you,
financially, relationally, emotionally, physically, that God is in control? (2 Corinthians 5:7) “For we walk by faith,
not by sight.” Walking by faith is
seeing life’s events from God’s perspective and with confidence in God. Walking by sight means to trust in yourself
and react to the world on its terms by its methods. I just had a discussion that amplifies this
point. I confronted someone with the
fact that they were deceiving me about an issue. The reason they deceived me made sense from
the world’s perspective. They didn’t
want to upset me with the truth, so they lied.
They were saying “I love you so much that I will lie to you.” I asked them what the Bible said about lying. Their answer “Don’t lie”. Then I asked, what do you call it when you
disobey God’s Word. Their answer, “Sin”. That is the difference between seeing things
as the world does .. and seeing life with spiritual understanding. Worldly perspective. Do what you have to do to get by. Spiritual perspective, admit your sin, find
forgiveness, repent, and be restored. Open your eyes friend. ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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