Who Made Your Glasses?
The Necessity of Spiritual Eyesight
Buy truth, and do not sell it. Get wisdom and instruction and understanding. Proverbs 23:23
My wife Kathy and I recently met a woman and her fifteen year-old son at a conference we attended. We had the privilege of praying with and for them both. One of the things this woman shared with us was the deteriorating vision of her son who was wearing glasses. She stated that until recently her son had 20/20 vision.
I recall that meeting now within the context of the ability to see clearly as it relates to spiritual things. The Bible has much to say about seeing things accurately, as well as having spiritual insight and vision.
Consider these examples:
· “Where there is no vision the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18
· “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.” 1 Kings 3:9
· “Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart.” Psalm 119:34
· “For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding.” Proverbs 2:3
· “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3
One simple truth found throughout the Bible is that God requires His people to gain understanding of who He is, what He is doing in their lives and in the world around them, and act upon that acquired knowledge for the benefit and blessing of others. Proverbs 23:23 supports this and says: “Buy truth, and do not sell it. Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.”
We are instructed to seek truth and hold on to it steadfastly. We are encouraged to acquire wisdom through understanding that comes from instruction. God desires His people to become educated in spiritual matters as they pertain to Him and living for Him in righteousness and holiness day by day.
The Apostle Peter captures the essence of what it means to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ when he wrote these words in his second epistle:
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (2 Peter 1:1-11).
We can say that our understanding, insight, discernment, learning, knowledge, and the application of all those things wisely must come through the filter of the Bible and the leading, prompting, guiding, and correcting of God’s Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God to us and who gives us understanding of the things of God, even insight into the Bible. 1 Corinthians 2:6, 10-13 gives us these truths:
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
So, what we must keep in mind is that being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is much more than apprehending knowledge and more than believing certain data. Believers are to put into action what they say they believe. James famously said that faith without works is useless and dead (James 2:20, 26). We know that the enemy of our souls and his cohorts have the knowledge of the Father and the redemption He offers through faith in the Son, and tremble (James 2:19).
This is why it is of utmost importance that believers “see” what it is they are to make actionable. A life lived for the glory of God is a life that is guided by the truth of God as revealed in the Bible and administered by the Holy Spirit.
The question thus becomes, who made your glasses? In other words, where did your understanding of the world and how it operates come from? What informed you of a proper response to the world system? Do you think and act subjectively or objectively? Is your view of the world as it exists today informed by your own ideas, attitudes, and understanding or is your view of the world and your responses to it shaped by something outside of yourself? Has God made your glasses?
Do you submit yourself, bend your knee, and adhere to the precepts, statutes, commands, and principles that God has revealed to us through His revelation to us that is the Holy Scriptures? Do you apply with all diligence the things the Holy Spirit impresses upon you and shows you? Do you practice those things? Are these things consistent with what the Bible says?
If your beliefs lead you away from faith that grows deeper and more mature over time, if your doctrine does not help you develop a richer appreciation for Christ and what the Bible teaches then you must reconsider what you believe. This is a huge issue today among people who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Are you growing in your faith? Is your relationship with God becoming richer and more intimate?
Friends, it is not nearly enough to believe you have proper doctrine and theology. People with opposing viewpoints, different glasses to carry the metaphor forward, believe they see things crystal clear. But this cannot be stated any clearer than I am about to now: if your theology, your doctrine, and living out the things you say you believe do not result in your own sanctification then something is amiss. If your doctrine and theology do not result in action then you are deceived. If your doctrine results in anger, resentment, hatred, and vitriol toward others than you are deceived and are in great danger. Your doctrine and theology must lead to love of the brethren.
Unless God makes your glasses you will ultimately become completely blind. A visit to the eye doctor is as simple and easy as crying out to the One who gave you spiritual sight in the first place. May God have mercy on us and grant us the courage and determination to speak the truth in love to as many as we have the opportunity to do so.
Dr. Mike Spaulding
Pastor, Calvary Chapel of Lima
Image by Ivana Tomášková from Pixabay
Follow Mike on X @TWGlobalEccl
Powerful metaphor about whose lens shapes our worldview. The 2 Peter passage on applying diligence to spiritual growth really underscores how faith has to be more than intellectual assent. I've noticed the biggest gap in many church contexts is between knowign doctrine and actually implementing it. The question about whether beliefs lead to deeper santification or just tribalism is one every believer should ask themselves regularly.