From Sight to Vision

Last week, I closed with a comparison between our spiritual eyes and our human eyes.  This must be an important topic because the Lord has given a different perspective on sight for this week's posting.  How do we gain our vision spiritually?  When do we cross over between sight and vision and indeed what is the difference?  If we enlist the aid of Webster's we will find that while both words are used interchangeably at times, there is a significant difference in the real meaning.  Sight is defined as the process, power or function of seeing; the act of looking at or beholding.  Vision on the other hand means a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation; the act or power of imagination; unusual discernment or foresight.  Both words convey the meaning of the ability to see, but how different those abilities truly are.

Mark 8:22-26 recounts the story of a blind man being healed.  This story is somewhat different then other instances where Jesus healed blindness.  Mark 8:24-25  He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."  Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Isn't it interesting that in this case it took two touches from Jesus to heal this man's eyes.  With the first touch, he was able to see, but not clearly.  People did not have distinguishing human characteristics.  Instead they appeared like trees - walking trees!  However when Jesus touched him a second time, his eyes were fully restored.  Why would Jesus not fully restore his sight the first time He touched Him?  Why would it require a second touch?

None of us were present at that time and no more information is provided to us about the situation or this man.  Yet any time something has been recorded in the Word, it was put there for our edification, to increase our knowledge and understanding.  Therefore we must ask the question what is Jesus communicating to us through this episode?  One possibility that rises up in my spirit reflects on our walk with the Lord. Do you remember when you first accepted Christ as your Savior?  Was it as if you suddenly saw life and yourself in a totally different perspective than you ever did before?  It was like that for me.  Blinders had been removed.  I saw things both good and bad that I had not seen before.  New sight had been given to me.  However just as this blind man, my vision was still not where it needed to be.  I needed a further touch from the Savior.

As I have grown in the Lord, my vision grows clearer.  My understanding of what I see and perceive is sharpened as life comes more into focus, as my Lord comes more into focus.  But I continue to need His touch.  I know that I am far from where I need to be in "seeing" the world around me and His hands in it.  Call it spiritual eye surgery if you like, but I regularly need to have "stuff" removed so that I can live and walk in the direction He desires for me.  But there is more to this particular blind man's experience that we need to embrace.

Mark 8:26  Jesus sent him away, saying, ""Don't go back into the village on your way home."  A simple statement yet very important.  Jesus did not tell him don't go home, He said, don't go back into the village.  Why?  Think about how you were living before you accepted Christ.  There were undoubtedly places you frequented and things that you did that were no longer acceptable in your new "sight".  The blind man had only known his town through his blindness.  I am hypothesizing now, but imagine what it must have been like to be blind back in Jesus' day.  There was no welfare system, no social security disability, certainly no schools for the blind.  He would have gone through his whole life wanting what others had and perhaps experiencing significant ridicule and persecution because of his affliction.  Imagine the emotional roller coaster that he would have experienced upon receiving full vision.  We have no clue as to how the people of the village would have received him with his vision restored.  Some of the very people who ridiculed him and made his life miserable could have been the first ones he would encounter returning to the village.  What kind of scene would that have been?  I wonder.

Jesus sent him home - without going back into the village.  Go to the place where your healing will be celebrated and embraced!  Let your family shower you with amazement and love.  Dwell in that for a while.  This is His advice to us as well.  When we have accepted Him as our Savior, we are just like that blind man with His vision restored.  The Lord encourages us "Go home, don't go back into the village."  Go home means go to the place where your healing will be celebrated and you will be embraced.  Surround yourself with the family of God.  Receive a second touch of the Savior, then a third, a fourth and so on as your vision is sharpened.  However do not go back into the village; do not embrace your old life style because you have been changed - healed.

The day will come when you will have to enter those old villages.  After all Jesus calls upon us to minister to the lost.  However you first go home.  You first are strengthened and trained so that when you do go back into those villages of your life, you are a different person and are not impacted and influenced by the same things.  We are not called to seclude ourselves and go into hiding.  However, the Lord is very clear throughout the Word that we are to associate with fellow believers on a very regular basis to guard against falling away.  Our church family is to be a source of training and equipping not escaping reality.  We come to our church family (home) for both respite and to worship our Lord.  We come "home" to celebrate the transformational process that God is working in our lives.  Then we go out into the villages bringing the Light of the World.

This week as you are going about your normal routines, take a moment to contemplate your sight and your vision and ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you how He is bringing into focus those "walking trees" in your life.  At the same time, ask Him to reveal to you what the old villages are in your life to which He is either asking you not to return, or to go and visit as a healed and "seeing" person bringing His light into dark places.  Then look at "home" and seek out those that will celebrate with you the awesome power and transformation that our Lord has brought into your life.  Make this week special!