Thursday, December 6, 2018

Seeing Clearly

Thursday, December 6, 2018

And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.  For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.  And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.  It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry.  But others preach about Christ with pure motives.  They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News.  Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.  But that doesn’t matter.  Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.  And I will continue to rejoice.  Philippians 1:12-18(NLT)

The first time I suspected glasses might be a good thing was in high school.  I was playing third base.  The runner from second, and the baseball, thrown from the other side of the field to get the runner out, were headed my way…both at top speed!  Clearly, something was wrong, because, instead of hitting my glove so I could tag the runner out, the ball whizzed past me, between my glove and left ear; I never saw it – but I did hear it!  A bit closer and we might not be having this conversation.
When Saul had his name changed to Paul, and his occupation from persecutor of the church to preacher of the Gospel there was a brief period of complete blindness.  Jesus had blinded the soon-to-be Apostle to get his attention.  That stuck better than my attempt to catch a baseball! 
Saul’s eyes were closed, but Paul had his opened on a brand-new view from the balcony.  For the first time he saw the big picture, and God continued opening his view all along the way from simple Gospel proclaimer, to church planter, missionary, defender of, and prisoner for the faith, and, finally, martyr. 
It takes seeing clearly to live a life of faith like that!
That old saying about being too close to the forest to see the trees applies here.  Saul was hip-deep in the alligators of persecuting the church, imprisoning believers, and even having some put to death[2], so he never had a clear view of God’s purposes.  When knocked to his knees with the blinding light of Christ’s presence, everything changed.
As a high schooler I had my eyes opened (literally) by a whizzing baseball too close for comfort, and later accepting the plain fact that I needed an assist with my vision.  Later, like Saul/Paul (but with a lot less drama) I had my eyes opened to a larger purpose for my life, of preaching and teaching God’s Word.
Fast forward about 30 years; he who was the newly-ordained Apostle Paul, surrounded by miracles, messenger of the Gospel, is now a diminutive, vision-impaired and battle-worn, chained prisoner of an old man in a cold Roman jail cell, awaiting execution.  And the dead-man walking is sitting, writing letters to his friends at Philippi, Ephesus, and around the world.  And he’s REJOICING!  What is up with that? 
Pretty simple answer:  God’s clear vision had given Paul a view from the balcony.  He was able to step back from the forest of his life’s pain, and see the trees clearly, how God was in everything that happened to him.  In Paul’s heart there was a stirring, motivation to see the Gospel of salvation proclaimed to the world.  He had a purpose, and it had gripped him so securely little else mattered.  Even when people couldn’t stand him and preached the Gospel just to stir-up the Roman authorities to make Paul’s life more miserable than it already was, Paul rejoiced. 
Paul wasn’t a pain-junkie, or a suicide bomber for the faith; he had hopes and dreams for the future, friends that were more like family, and relationships that made life worth living.  But he was ready to give everything up for the success of the Gospel which had been entrusted to him that day on the Damascus Road when the fastball of blindness whizzed past Saul’s ear and awakened Paul to new life.
For me it was a close call with a baseball that awakened a need for clearer physical vision.  And some other close-calls awakened my need for deeper spiritual vision, the kind that helps shape a greater purpose in life, a Godly purpose. 
For You Today
Have you had a Damascus Road, or a whizzing fastball moment where you finally recognized there really is a higher purpose than just going to work, school, or cutting the grass?
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] Acts 9

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