Seeing With New Eyes

I had my annual eye exam a couple of weeks ago and went today to pick out new frames for my new lenses. I hadn't thought that my vision had changed, but the exam showed that it had. I didn't even realize that my sight could be clearer and sharper until the "click-click, how's that? Better or worse?" Ah, yes, better!

I recall years ago when I first got glasses back in high school. I didn't really want to wear glasses, but I didn't know what I was missing, either. When I got them, I was very glad my parents had overruled in that decision.

Sometimes we don't see clearly, either by physical sight or by spiritual sight. The physical sight is quicker to bring into focus than spiritual sight, though. To improve my physical sight, all I had to do was to take myself to the optometrist, sit through the exam, present my debit card, and he took it from there. I get my new glasses, my new sight, in about a week. Looking forward to it!

Spiritual sight is made clearer, though, through the lens of scripture, and that takes getting into the Word and getting the Word into me. It's a growing process. People without the Holy Spirit living in them don't understand scripture, so they don't have clear spiritual sight. Sad, but they don't even realize they aren't seeing life clearly. That's why they don't really understand themselves, others, God (and how he sees us), Satan, or life in general. And that's why they think Christians have it all wrong. Not to sound irreverent, I hope, but seeing spiritually is one of the perks of placing faith in Jesus Christ. He opens our spiritual eyes to reality.

Picking out my frames today reminded me of a book I have entitled Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture by David Powlison. I pulled it out to read again and remind myself of the importance of viewing people and life through the lens of scripture.

A brief excerpt from the Introduction: 

(Click book for more details)

"Seeing with New Eyes presents a collection of essays written over a period of almost twenty years. Most of them originally appeared in the Journal of Biblical Counseling between 1985 and 2003. You will find a number of interlocking themes appearing again and again. Everywhere evident is God’s gracious self-revelation in Jesus Christ and Scripture. The real needs and problems of real people—our sins and miseries, our need for the Father of mercies—are always in view. Our current social and cultural context—the modern psychologies and psychotherapies, these alternative theologies and alternative cures of soul—are continually engaged."

~ David Powlison, M.Div., Ph.D

  

David Powlison is a biblical counselor who worked in psychiatric hospitals before coming to faith in Christ. He teaches at CCEF and edits the Journal of Biblical Counseling.

You can read the Introduction and Chapter One here. 

You can read other articles by David Powlison here.

Nourishing for Growth--My Roses and Myself

I love roses. But I don’t want to devote the necessary time to nourish them and keep them healthy. You’d think that since they’re my favorite flowers that I’d want to tend to them so I could clip some and bring their beauty and fragrance inside. Maybe someday I’ll give them some time and attention. For now, though, I’ll admire the roses in other people’s yards and smell their wonderful wafting fragrance as I pass by.

A couple of years ago I discovered Knock Out Shrub Roses that I’d seen in our area that seem to bloom without much ado. They don’t have layers of unfolding petals, and they’re not as elegant as the roses I really love, but I decided I could give a wee bit of time and attention to them. We bought two bushes and planted them by the picket fence in the front yard. All I have to do to them is deadhead every now and then. Takes maybe fifteen minutes. I'm wanting to get some more to put out back for a pleasant view from my sewing room.

I snipped a little two-inch-or-so bloom and put it in a little vase in my kitchen window this morning. I think it’s rather cute. I'm growing roses. Sort of.

As I think about my attitude toward roses, I don’t want my love for God’s Word to be like my love for roses—admiring the growth of beautiful blooms that other people have, but not giving much time and attention to it myself. I don’t want to be satisfied with a life of shrub roses. Yes, I sort of grow roses, but there are those that are more lovely, more fragrant, more excellent. Those are the ones that have been nurtured. Those are the ones with the sweet aroma. Those are the ones with true value.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Sunday Ponderings ~ Psalm 119 on Suffering

My ponderings today come from Psalm 119, verses 65-72, brought to mind by our worship service this morning.

65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. 66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. 70 Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law. 71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  

The theme of God's Word runs throughout this Psalm, and this stanza has to do with suffering relative to God's Word in a particular way. But suffering isn't the most frequently used word here besides references to God's Word. We see the word good/well used more often than the word suffering. The Psalmist begins the stanza with this thought: You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word (v. 65). He understands God's goodness, and this is his interpreting factor for his sufferings. You are good and do good (v. 68); It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes (v. 71).

Probably most of us struggle with interpreting our sufferings in the light of God's goodness, but verse 72 holds the key to why the psalmist saw God's goodness preeminent in his sufferings. The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  It holds the key for our own sufferings as well. When we know God through His Word, we learn to know His inherent goodness, and that goodness is expressed in all He sends to us or allows to reach us. He is good and does all things well.

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Psalm 119:72 

Painting ~ Endymion, John William Godward

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Sunday Ponderings

The Artist's Two Youngest Sisters ~ Consantin Hansen

Pondering this afternoon on today's Sunday School discussion as we finished a series of lessons on how we got our Bible and how we know that what we have is God's Word.

In His sovereignty throughout the ages, God has used man to translate His inspired word from the original languages into the languages of the common people. I am thankful for people such as Wycliffe and Tyndale who gave and suffered much in translating the Bible into the English language.


Although there has been resistance to new translations throughout history, God's desire is that we would understand His plan of salvation and come to repentance.

If you'd like further reading, a good book is God's Word in Our Hands: The Bible Preserved for Us by James B. Williams and Randolph Shaylor.

  
 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

Isaiah 40:8