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Article Archive |
2008
Can You See the Light?
by Jim Morris
My brother's green Chevy chugged ahead of us in the fast food drive through line. My friend, Phil, had suggested that we pick up some hamburgers while we were driving around. Before I had the chance to ask Phil how he liked my brother's new car, he said, “Look at that beautiful girl with the long blond hair!”
“Where?” I said looking around the parking lot.
“Right there in front of us,” he said. “Are you blind or stupid?”
“I don't see her anywhere,” I confessed while scanning the area for this elusive beauty.
“Honk your horn, you idiot!” Phil yelled and then reached over to grab the steering wheel. He blasted the horn shamelessly.
Both of us stared as the head with the long blond hair turned around to wave at us from the Chevy. Then the smiling face of the blond revealed the thick, blond mustache of my brother.
“She's a HE!” cried out my friend Phil.
In chapter nine of the gospel of John, three types of people are described by what they see. The same kinds of folks are all around us today.
First, some have “fuzzy vision.” These are folks who admit they cannot see well. Jesus and His disciples came to a man born blind. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus said that the cause for the blindness was not because of the man's sin nor his parent's. The real cause was an option that they had not imagined: “so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (9:4).
Second, some are “blind but can see the Light.” These are folks who admit that they do not see at all. Jesus confronted the blind man. The man born blind seized the opportunity for healing and obeyed Jesus (9:6-7). Jesus is able to open the eyes of the ones willing to obey Him.
Third, others “claim to see but cannot see the Light.” These are folks who cannot admit that they cannot see. The Pharisees asked the healed man how he had received his sight and he told them. Some concluded that Jesus was a sinner for he broke the Sabbath by making mud (9:16). They ignored the evidence of the miracle to work out their own twisted logic.
Sometimes we do not see what we think we see or know what we think we know. Instead we must learn to carefully weigh the evidence before we come to any solid conclusions. Perhaps we may need a “vision test” from time to time to check the accuracy of what we think we see. If we humbly go to the Light He will make us see things with true clarity.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (9:39). Can you see the Light?
11-19-08
# 46
