The devil is always attempting to “Distort our Views.” And if we are not
ever on our guard, the devil will cause us to “See things that aren’t
really there,” and what we once perceived as “Reality” often ends up
being nothing more than mere “Figments of our Imaginations.”
So
today, I want to help some of God’s children to be able to look beyond
the illusions that the devil uses to so negatively affect our visions.
Satan was, is, and will always be, “The Accuser of the Brethren”. And
for all who’s Vision has become damaged, distorted, or diminished, it is
my prayer that God will help you to: “GET YOUR FOCUS BACK!”
In the
book of Mark (Ch.8) Jesus had come to a town called Bethsaida. And
while there, there are some people who bring their blind friend to Jesus
that He might heal him. But unlike all the other miracles that Jesus
performed, “This Time” Jesus does not instantly perform the miracle
needed. “This Time” something is different. “This Time” before Jesus
will heal the man… He must first take him out of town. And then, after
Jesus heals the man, He tells him “NOT” to return to town, so what’s
this all about?
Bethsaida just happened to be one of the cities
reprimanded by Jesus “For Its Unbelief” (Matthew 11:21). When Jesus did
miracles in their town, the people were unimpressed. Christ therefore
knew that if this man was going to be healed by Him, he had to be taken
“OUT” of Bethsaida.
Sometimes, for Jesus to do something powerful
in our lives there are some people/places/things that we too, have to
avoid. It seems that this blind man had allowed himself to be influenced
by the “Lack of Faith” and by the “Lack of Commitment to Christ” of the
citizens of this city. So in order to do anything in this man’s life…
Jesus had to get him out of Bethsaida…and keep him out.
Somewhere
along Life’s Road, this man’s vision had departed. And one day he found
himself completely and totally blind. Something in Life had robbed him
of the very eyesight that he had probably (so often) taken for granted.
But the day came when this blind man's friends heard about Jesus. They
led their friend to the “Only One” that had the capacity to restore his
blinded eyes.
Nevertheless, it seems that even after coming into
Christ’s presence, he still struggles with believing that Christ has the
power to restore that which he had lost. Undeterred, Christ led him
outside the city limits, and the first thing that Christ did was to take
some of his own spittle, and to rub it in the blind man’s eyes.
I
know there are a lot of people who would have been deeply offended at
the unorthodox manner by which Christ chose to perform this miracle. But
when your vision is so messed up until you can no longer see the light
of day, you quickly learn how to “GET OVER” all the little things in
life by which you used to be so deeply offended by.
When do we “GET
IT?” People are people, and we all are people. And as such, to one
degree or another “ALL” of us are “MESSED UP!” The only difference
between any of us is the fact that “Some of us are just a little more
‘Messed Up’ than perhaps everybody else!”
So don’t get your eyes on
me, because I’m probably just as “Messed Up” as you are (maybe even
worse). Instead, you just go ahead and “Get Your Eyes On Jesus!” And if
you will be willing to do that, it will help you to get your focus off
of all the faults and failures and missteps of everybody else!
After rubbing the spit in his eyes Christ asked the man, “What do you
see?” the man replied: he said, “I see men as trees walking.” He had
gotten just enough of Jesus as to be able to make out the difference
between men and trees, but his vision was still, “Out of Focus!”
Sometimes we just want to get close enough to God be able to “Make Out
the Shadows,” but God doesn’t want any of His children walking around,
bumping into everything, stumbling over everything, and falling flat on
our faces about every 3rd step. Because God knows that if we do that,
then it will only be a matter of time until the devil will cause us to
fall down so hard until we won’t ever be able to get back up again!
This man’s sight was imperfect, but Christ didn’t leave him in that
miserable condition. Instead, Christ puts His hands on this man’s eyes
and forced him to look up. And as soon as he “LOOKED UP” his sight was
completely restored.
“Just maybe” if all of us would spend a little
more time “Looking Up” instead of looking at every THING and/or at every
ONE else, then “Just Maybe” there would be a lot more of us who could
“Get Our Focus Back!”
Just a Thought,
Pastor Ken Jones
