Godly Ophthalmology

 

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

—2 Corinthians 4:4

I once had cataracts. The cataract clouds the vision of the lens of the eye and can be blamed for the majority of human blindness across the world. I am grateful that here in the United States, we have routine cataract surgery, easily done and usually without serious consequences.

What a contrast between blindness and the brilliant glory of Christ. Eugene Peterson defines glory as:

… the open display of God’s good will, his loving salvation, his redeeming purpose.  ¹

The brilliance of God’s glory as referred to in Exodus 34:29-35 caused Moses’ face to shine so intensely that he had to wear a veil when he spoke to the Israelite people. God’s glory, brilliant and dazzling, lies in contrast to the blindness of the human race, struck sightless by the sin we bear.

Just as a cataract fogs the lens completely if not removed, so sin takes away the sight of all of us until God gives us the ability to see again. All of us know the phrase, “I once was blind, but now I see” from the hymn Amazing Grace. ²

A graphic picture of this comes to us in the story of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, found in Acts 9:1-18. Religious and obedient to his faith in every way, Saul thought persecuting this new sect of “Christians” fell on him, and he went about the country making “murderous threats” and imprisoning them. The day that glory of Christ Himself shone on Saul, knocking him from his donkey and blinding him, Saul heard God speak to him from this “glory” and Saul turned to God in repentance and new faith. God then changed Saul’s name to Paul.

Acts 9:18 tells us that after Paul met Ananias, who laid his hands on Paul:

…immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again.

Like the removal of cataracts to restore our physical sight, God miraculously removes the spiritual blindness of our hearts caused by the clouding of sin. He comes to us with that unique life-changing encounter with Him. We then begin to see in a new spiritual way things we never could see before.

We can now observe the brilliant colors of God’s truth that once was a drab absurdity. We understand in a new way God’s wonderful love and His amazing provision for us. Christ Jesus, who once dwelt so far away that we could not see Him, now is seen up close, with clarity and definition.

Let us rejoice today, if God has removed our spiritual cataracts so that we can see Him and know Him. We must pray for those we know who still stumble in the darkness, and ask God for opportunities to allow us to share with them the transforming vision we have received from Him. He has made this operation available to them, as well, through His birth life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Great Physician waits to heal spiritual eyes and restore sight!

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1 Peterson, Eugene. A Year with Jesus. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publisher, 1989. p. 321.

2 Newton, John. Amazing Grace. Public Domain.