The Illusion of A Clear View

The human eye is one of the most amazing organs in the body. The speed of its regenerative power following an injury or surgery is astounding, and its ability to self-correct is nothing short of miraculous. While I remember very little of high school biology, one science film I saw in class has never left my memory because it was so personally relevant to me. Having been called “four eyes” ever since fifth grade, I was both fascinated and strangely comforted when I learned that my eyes — which couldn’t even read the chalkboard without glasses — had such amazing power. The film highlighted a scientific experiment in which a man wore a vision inversion device on his head 24 hours a day for a period of time (if I recall, it was not very long, perhaps a week). So basically he lived life for a while with his vision flipped upside down. Once his brain and eyes had time to process what was happening, his vision then perfectly corrected itself to see everything right-side up, even though he continued to wear the contraption over his eyes. Once the inversion device was removed, his eyes then went through the same adaptation process to function normally again. 
 
Fast forward three decades and here I am remembering that film again as I look at beautiful coastlines of Caribbean islands in the distance. In all the brilliance of the vista before me — the sparkling azure waters and rugged mountains rising up out of the sea — it would be easy to let my mind melt away and simply trust what my eyes are seeing. But the problem is that my heart knows something my eyes can’t see. Hidden within all that rugged beauty and breathtaking colors are people dwelling in poverty. Of course, I knew that before I took this vacation, having seen the horrible suffering up close on a mission trip and hearing the cries of painfully thin, unkempt children through a chain link fence on previous tropical vacations. But once I saw and heard the truth, it found a place in my heart and has never left, even when everything my eyes see clearly displays the opposite. 
 
So what does this vision of the heart have to do with the real vision of my now laser-corrected eyes? Everything. Although God has blessed me with visual acuity, my eyes are completely helpless on their own to see the truth. In fact, what our eyes tell us is true is often woefully incorrect or distorted. Our eyes give us clues. They reveal what’s on the surface very well. But they almost never tell us what’s really happening underneath, up close, or inside. Whether the truth is hidden by glossy veneer, a forced smile, or obscured by distance. The problem for all of us is that 9 times out of 10 we trust in what our own eyes tell us. (Romans 11:25) We look at a person and assume we know how much money they make by their clothes. We observe someone’s behavior and immediately misinterpret their motivations. We see a new gadget on TV and instantly believe that we simply must own it. You see, the route from our eyes to our hearts is direct, fast and naturally paved with bad intentions. 
 
Given the choice as humans, we would prefer to indulge our eyesight, believing and giving in to whatever information they provide. (I Corinthians 2:14) But Jesus said that our eyes are windows into our hearts. The two are inseparable and synergistic. They can spur each other on to see, discern and act upon the truth, or they can conspire to lure and capture our attentions, resources and time on that which is fleeting, fake or unwise. Jesus often talked about this interdependency of our eyes and hearts. Matthew 6:22-24 says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” 
 
As a long-time believer, I am still struck by how depraved my eyes can become over time or even out of the blue. In John 9:39 Jesus explains that He came into the world that the blind might see, and those who think they can see everything with their own wisdom and efforts might realize how blind they really are.  So even though I have experienced the power of Christ to unblind my eyes to my desperate spiritual need for salvation, I can still fall back into reliance on my own wisdom to make sense of what I see in my daily walk, relationships and calling. The Psalmist knew this human tendency very well. God called David a man after His own heart, but this same man fell from the heights of spiritual health to the depths of complete depravity by following his eyes into ruin. He became wise in his own eyes and made devastating decisions. Sometimes we might be lulled into thinking that because our eyes are not leading us into temptations with such egregious consequences as David’s that we have permanently protected ourselves from such lofty falls, but even the simplest misinterpretation of what we see can lead to gossip, a judgmental spirit, and tainted motivations. 
 
Psalm 119:18 is a plea from a long-time believer to keep his eyes open to the truth. “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Keeping our eyes fixed on the only real filter of truth is a continuous process — a constant, relentless pursuit to put on the character of Christ more each day, realizing that no matter how far you’ve travelled in the faith, you have never completed the journey as long as you are breathing on this earth. As long as we’re alive, we’ll be tempted to rely on our earthly eyes, but when we put on the clothing of humility we’ll realize how much we must depend on the light of Christ in our hearts to discern truth and knowledge. 

***
If you like reading my blog posts, please subscribe to my weekly emails! Every new subscriber helps me prepare to be published someday! Thank you!

---