Spiritual Eyesight

Well, brethren, when I was just 18 years old, two life-changing events took place in my life. Number one, my physical vision was beginning to deteriorate. So my vision had been good up until about 17, and then I noticed I could not see far away as well as I used to be able to see. So that began to change my life somewhat. And secondly, at the same time, my spiritual vision was also beginning to sharpen. So my physical vision was going to pot, but my spiritual vision was becoming sharper and having more clarity.

God was beginning to call me at that time around age 18. He was specifically beginning to open my mind to His way of life and to call me to a lifelong adventure as a member of His Church. Now, some of you have had the same similar experiences. You either grew up in the Church or you came into the Church at a fairly early age and have been in the Church quite a while now. I didn't grow up in the Church. I wasn't a child in a Church. I actually went to a Methodist Church. We lived about four or five miles from a United Methodist Church.

It was quite convenient. We were out in the country, so my mother would take us to Sunday Church, but she would teach us that, you know, Sabbath is really on Saturday because she had been getting the plain truth since I was three years old. And she knew some of the truths that Armstrong was teaching in the Plain Truth magazine and on the telecast and broadcast.

She told us we really shouldn't eat pork because the Bible says don't eat it. So I was picking up some of that as a small child, but not coming to church at all. But when I was 18, God actually began to draw me and open my mind. And I had, of course, a decision that I had to make as I was being drawn to Him.

I didn't start observing the Sabbath and Holy Days until I was 18. I was already at college at Bowling Green State University when I started going to church. Now, I had no clue at the time when I was 18 that these two life-changing events had anything in common. In fact, I only recognized this a few months ago when I was working on this sermon. I gave it some months ago. I actually gave the sermon down in San Antonio. No, this... yeah, was this Houston? Houston or San... I guess this one was... this was the San Antonio weekend that I gave this sermon.

And I really never put the connection together, but my physical eyesight was getting much worse, but my spiritual eyesight was getting much better at the same time. Now, the physical is often a type of the spiritual. We know that. At age 18, I came to realize that my physical vision was failing me, but something more important was happening in my life. But I wanted to do something about the physical vision, too. So, I went to the optometrist, and I got fitted for contact lenses.

I have contact lenses on now, and I probably can see about as well as most any of you who have never had glasses, because it's a remarkable thing what they can do with these little lenses that you stick in your eyes. And these lenses have been in there for 40 years. Not... I've taken them out a few times, like every day for 40 years. Initially, I started with hard contact lenses, and they were horrible, to some degree. I mean, they were better than glasses, because I would always lose and break glasses. I was really hard on glasses, but the physical...

the hard contacts were kind of hard on my eyes, and at college I remember just getting so tired, not getting enough sleep, and then sitting in class, and my eyes were heavy. But when I got the soft contact lenses, man, it was like night and day difference. It was so much better. I was able to play sports without being concerned that my contacts might pop out of my eyes, and you've seen...

in the old days, they used to get down on their knees looking for contact lenses. You don't see that much anymore, because the soft ones stay in there where they belong. But the hard ones used to pop out more.

So I had my vision corrected, and now I was able to see much better, and it was a lot better. I could go hunting and see deer from a good distance off now. I could also see which girls were nearby, which was always a plus back in those days.

You know, really correcting my physical vision through contacts lenses has really worked great for me. How many of you have contact lenses on right now? Anybody? Just... Barbara does. So she's probably had hers on a long time, too. Quite a few. They really are a great invention.

I can see probably about 2020 with them on.

And I've been able to do this for over 40 years, so this was quite an invention that really works and works well. All I've had to do is take a few minutes of maintenance each day, and also in the evenings to clean my contacts, to take them and put them away, cleanse them throughout the night, put them back into my eyes in the morning, disinfect them again in the evening. And really, it only takes a couple of minutes a day, and I don't even think of it anymore. I just do it, and it's very effective. So I think it's one of the greatest inventions ever.

I haven't really been slowed down a bit by having to wear contact lenses. I'm almost 60 years old now, and I guess I'll wear contact lenses until I croak.

Until I die, probably. I only have to wear these things when I have my contacts in now.

See, it's weird. I don't really understand this, so if anyone can explain this to me, I'd appreciate it. But with, see, it used to be I would wear contact lenses, and I could see far away, and I could also see fine up close. But now, if I take my contacts out, I can see fine to read up close. I just can't see far away. So when I have my contacts in, now I have to wear these things in order to see the Bible. Now, this font's pretty good size, intentionally, so I don't have to always wear these things. But if you can explain how that works, I don't really understand how that goes. Anyway, let me ask you this. How is your spiritual vision? Because I don't really want to talk a lot more about my physical vision, but I do want to talk a good deal more about my spiritual vision that was corrected around the same time, because I'm sure I was headed down a wrong path at about age 18 until God got a hold of me and showed me a better way. So everyone here, no matter who you are, needs help with his or her spiritual vision. I can't share my physical vision with you. I can't take my contacts out and share them with you and help you see better physically. But hopefully I will be able to help you see a little bit better spiritually because of some of the spiritual insight and vision that God's given me over all these years. So let's ask ourselves this question. What are the spiritual glasses and the spiritual contacts that help correct our spiritual vision, that help us stay focused and see better spiritually? So I'd like to talk about a number of things that will help us have better spiritual vision, things that are really, in a sense, our spiritual glasses, our spiritual contacts. And the first one is simply being grateful for our spiritual being grateful for our calling, being grateful that God saw fit to open our minds and work with us at this time. Because frankly, this world is very, very deceived. Even the religious world. And maybe you might say especially the religious world. It's extremely deceived by Satan, the devil, who is the God of this world. Many people think they're on the right track spiritually, but frankly, they believe lots of lies. Remember what Christ said, how be it in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrine the commandments of men? And so many people believe that. And you know, they're blinded to the spiritual truth that's out there. God isn't calling everyone right now, so we should be extremely grateful if God is calling us and showing us the difference between truth and falsehood, because it's a huge difference.

So again, we need to stay spiritually focused. So being grateful and also embracing life.

That improves our spiritual vision. So what do I mean by that? You know, don't you dare just go through life allowing it to happen.

Don't do that. That's a huge mistake that so many people make. They just let their lives happen without really taking taking control of their lives, choosing their destiny, because it is a matter of choice. What are you going to do each day when you get out of bed?

How are you going to live your life? Are you going to live it to the glory of God and Christ?

Or are you going to seek your own ways and oftentimes Satan's way and mess up your life and mess up other people's lives along the way? Now these are choices you make every day. And so you have to be spiritually focused every day.

It seems like some people are 14 years old one day and then they're 64 years old the next day and life has just passed them by and they've wondered where it went. And they weren't very focused and they don't have a lot to show for their lives when they look back and say, where is it all gone? So none of us want to be in that position when we're older. We want to be able to look back and see that because of God working in us we were able to help people, we were able to accomplish things, we were able to set a decent example for others and do something worthwhile in a world that really needs lots of help.

We don't want to look back with regret, wishing that we had done something differently with our time. We want to use our time more wisely to accomplish something that will last, something that's good and right. So don't let life happen around you and if you're young then that's great because you really need to start living each day right now. If you're 12 or 13 or 14 or 17, now's a good time to think about accomplishing something that will last a lifetime that's going to be worthwhile. So embrace life by having goals, by having dreams, by having aspirations, and embrace life fully by being thankful for what God has given you and always look to Him as the source of your strength. And some of you have done that and so you've had very successful lives. You've had very fulfilled lives and you don't look back with regret and you're certainly grateful for all that God has done in your life. So embrace life by believing in something that you know is real, that's vibrant, that's alive, that's going to last forever. So for me, that has definitely been understanding who the true God is and His Son Jesus Christ and also their plan of salvation. You know, to me there's nothing more important than that. In fact, that's probably why I ended up doing what I'm doing now. It's because it just, to me, nothing else seemed nearly as important and nothing else is nearly as important as dedicating your life to God and to His Son and to living it. It doesn't mean you have to be a minister because, you know, I was not a minister until I was 35 years old or so and I still had a good life before that and I felt like I did something worthwhile but it was mainly because I was doing other things than just working and playing. Now working and playing is fine and it has its place but that's not all life's all about. We can't just work and play. We've got to give back, give back to others and that's really what will make us happiest. Embracing God's plan of salvation and sharing it with others as we have opportunity and just setting an example of knowing what's ahead of us and having that faith. I think it's really going to be critical in the times ahead when times really get difficult because we've lived very soft lives most of us. You know, we've had good years. You know, I've been very blessed to live at this time here on the earth and here in the United States especially but I think it's I know it's going to get worse. Now I don't know if I'm going to die before it gets worse. I mean it's going to get a little worse but is it going to get really bad just prior to Christ's return? We have no way of knowing that but for those who are alive at that time your example will mean it'll be huge because people are going to be falling apart and having someone who has faith and knows that there's a better future that's around the bend that's going to be a very important commodity to have. So God has really blessed me physically, blessed my wife, gave me a wonderful wife who stood by me all these years. We've had two precious children. You know some of the story. My kids, we love our kids, haven't always done exactly what we want but nevertheless we love them and always will. God's blessed us with good health. Barbara and I for the most part we've had very good health throughout all these years and we're grateful for all these things.

Let's go to Luke chapter 4 for a moment and consider what Christ had to say about the blind because there were blind who came to Christ when Christ was here on the earth.

Again, we're talking about spiritual blindness today and we're also obviously talking about spiritual vision, the opposite of blindness. This was someone who was physically blind who came to Christ. Luke chapter 4. Actually, this is a different account I'm thinking of here.

I was thinking of a different account. This is about prophecy actually that was about Christ and that Christ was referring to here. It says in verse 16 that he came to Nazareth where he went to the synagogue. It was his custom to read on the Sabbath day.

Luke 4.16 is one of those scriptures that we should keep in mind because it shows that it was Christ's custom to observe the Sabbath. He was handed the book of Isaiah and he began to read it in verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, this has both a physical and a spiritual meaning here because certainly some people were healed. Christ healed some blind people when he was here on the earth, but primarily he's in the business of healing people spiritually, taking them out of their blindness, their spiritual blindness, and giving them spiritual eyesight or spiritual vision.

So Christ came to heal the blind. In Isaiah 42, let's notice what Christ, another prophecy of Christ here in Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, verse 16. Isaiah 42 and verse 16.

I will bring the blind by a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. Okay, if you're blind, you're not very good at staying on the path, are you?

You know, unless you really, it's a worn path, well worn and you know every step of it.

Otherwise, you're going to run into a lot of problems staying on the path. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them. In crooked places, I will make straight these things I will do for them and I will not forsake them. They shall be turned back. They shall be greatly ashamed. Now, this is talking about those who would commit an idolatry, who trusted in carved images. He says, hear you, deaf, and look you blind that you may see. So he's talking about a world that is blinded and has been blinded by Satan the devil. Now, the scripture clearly tells us that Satan has blinded the whole world, that he's deceived the whole world, and that we all walk in darkness until God opens our mind and shows us the true way. And again, there's a lot of religious people that mean well in the world today, but if they're not teaching the truth, then they are blind and they're walking in blindness.

You know, God has really blessed Barbara and I in our transition to Texas. It helps having this little lot in congregation, though. It's kind of a nice transition time. You know, we lost you for a while, got you back. So God's really blessed us, though. He's, you know, it's like we had a ready-made family when we moved to Texas, because God's spirit is what binds us together. And whether I'm here or in Sherman or in Dallas or Tulsa or wherever I am, it's the same message. And people know what I'm talking about. You know, it's not like I'm not looking in blind eyes. I'm looking in eyes that see, you know, that's exciting to me that you understand what I'm saying and it makes sense to you. And you're not walking out on me because you disagree or, you know, you're also called of God. You know, God has plucked you out of this world. He's opened your heart and He's opened your mind and He's working with you just as every bit as much as He is with me. And I know He's been working with me a lot and my wife and our family throughout the years and God loves every one of us. In fact, He died for all of us whether, you know, we were all sinners when God paid the ultimate price, giving up His Son's life for us. If you don't see life through the eyes of gratitude and appreciation, then your spiritual vision is going to suffer greatly. So this is why I made it the first point. I just see it so important because in talking to lots of people over the years and in counseling with people, people who are not really grateful, they're the ones that have the worst problems. You know, they're the ones that have the biggest issues. If you're not really grateful, for where you're at and what God's doing in your life, and even though you may have trials and problems and hardships, you've got to look at the big picture and you've got to see what transcends all of that other stuff. Because there's something out there that's far more important than our daily trials, our daily hardships, and those things that sometimes depress us or discourage us.

And sometimes God really allows us to go through some horrible trials. You know, some of you have been through some bad trials and are continuing to go through some bad trials. Certainly, Jennifer is having a big trial right now, the whole Burke family. Because of that, I believe God will see her through this. He's going to give her relief, hopefully very soon.

But we need to do our part, obviously, and pray for her and pray that God would act sooner than later, or that God would allow someone who is human, who knows what they're doing, to also give her some help that she needs. So you might ask yourself, what kind of person are you? Are you a very grateful, thankful person? Or do you tend to be a complainer? Is that kind of just the way you are? Kind of a grumbler, a pessimist, a negative person? If that's the way you are, then it would be good to admit it. Because then you might be able to make some changes.

If you can't see it and you can't admit it, then it's much more difficult to make some changes. But complainers can change. People can learn not to complain so much and not to be quite so negative, not to be such a pessimist, but to learn to look at things more optimistically.

It is a choice that we make. What kind of person are you going to be? Are you choosing to be a more positive, outgoing kind of person? Or are you choosing to be a more negative type person who finds something wrong in most everything that happens? How do you look at things? It's important. You know, God can help you change, too. So if you find yourself needing some help in that area, go to God and ask Him for help because He will surely help you. He may not fix you overnight. He usually doesn't fix us overnight. We all have different things that need fixed.

He usually doesn't fix us just like that. It takes a while. In 1 John 4, verse 14, John writes, And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. We have seen that. In other words, God's opened our minds to understand that. We're no longer spiritually blinded because now we see. And we have seen, and we do testify, that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world and not just Jesus, but the real Jesus. The one who said, How be it in vain do you worship me? He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He wants us to keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. The disciples were eyewitnesses to the miracles that Christ performed. They were eyewitnesses of Christ Himself. They saw Him interact with people. They saw His love for others. They saw His perfection, His character. Christ was totally unique, and they recognized it. They couldn't help but recognize it. They believed, and they were willing to die for what they believed. You know, that's pretty huge when you're willing to lay your life down, and all of them did. And John would have if it would have been required of him.

But John survived until a ripe old age. But the others ended up dying for what they believed in, and they believed in Christ. And they were faithful to Christ until their deaths.

Now, John says to the brethren in 1 John chapter 1 verse 3, 1 John chapter 1 verse 3, that which we have seen and heard, again, these are things that God has opened our minds to see, and to understand, these things we've seen and heard, we do declare unto you that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and Christ. Because that should be the most important relationship that you have, is your relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. We have seen and we've heard, and we declare unto you, that you may have fellowship with us. That's what John said. We all have this in common, that we've accepted Christ as our Savior. The disciples of old, they accepted Christ as their Savior. You know, they were willing to give their lives for the cause, for what Christ stood for. And they knew that He died for them, and that it was through Him, their sins would be forgiven, and they would have an opportunity to live forever, in a much, much better world. And that's the same calling that you and I have. And we've seen and we've heard this, and so it's very important to us, so important that we get out of bed, or you know, at three o'clock in the afternoon, you don't have to get out of bed very early. But some people get out of bed early in the morning on the Sabbath, every Sabbath, and they drive 100 miles or more, and they come to church. And it's important to them.

And so they made a commitment to worship God, and that's part of their worship, is fellowshiping together. In Matthew 13, verse 17, Christ says, "'Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you have seen.'" He could say the same thing to you and me. There are many prophets and righteous men that have desired to see what you've seen. We've seen even more, in a sense. I mean, we weren't there as eyewitnesses, but we have the account right here, and we have all of it. We have, from Genesis to Revelation, we have easy access. You know, back in the old days, they didn't all have Bibles that they could carry around and read every day, and learn from, and understand, and have God show them so much through the written word of God.

"'So many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you have seen.'" God has, again, taken the scales off of our eyes and allowed us to see.

So be grateful for the knowledge that you have at this time. Be grateful for the incredible access to God's Word that is available to all of us now. I was really thankful that I could wear contact lenses when I got them. And, again, I've been able to wear them for 40-plus years. I've been able to see much better. I can go snorkeling even with these contact lenses in.

And I've got some backups. If ever I lost one, I'd have another one I could stick in there.

So I can go snorkeling, go down under the water, and these soft contacts even work then.

I can play sports of all types. Again, it hasn't slowed me down. So I've been able to see well physically, but it's far more important that I've been able to see spiritually all these years. That's more important to me than being able to. If I had to wear glasses and be half blind, I guess I'd be willing to pay that price to have the spiritual vision that God's given me.

So the first point, again, was being truly grateful for our calling.

And when we're really grateful, then that will give us sharp spiritual vision. It will help us see much better. We'll be able to see through things, understand things more better. It will help us understand things a lot better.

Okay, let's go on to a second spiritual glass or contact lens that we can see through.

And that is daily maintenance. I already mentioned that, but being faithful in the daily maintenance, that's a spiritual contact lens. If you're not faithful in the daily maintenance of your life spiritually, then you're going to suffer a great deal.

So daily maintenance on a physical sense is essential to good vision. I already mentioned that I had to wash those contacts every day. I had to put them in some kind of a solution that would clean them up, get the protein deposits off, and get them cleaned up for me. Otherwise, if I just think if I had never washed my contacts, I probably wouldn't have any eyes because they probably would have rotted out by now. Those contact lenses, you've got to keep them clean. Otherwise, you get eye infections.

If you don't take care of your eyes, those contacts, and they put them in your eye, I mean, that would be the height of foolishness. You have to take care of that stuff. It's the same thing with your teeth. If you don't take care of your teeth, you lose them early, it seems. You know, if you don't brush them or floss them, and I could do better when it comes to flossing. But, you know, you have to take care of these things on a daily basis, these physical things. But the same thing is true spiritually. I've been very faithful to clean my contact lenses each day. And for the most part, I've been faithful on the spiritual level as well. You know, my eyes have been healthy because I maintained them. I've been spiritually healthy, too, because I try to do these daily things. You know, for 40 years now, I haven't been perfect. I don't mean to say I'm perfect because I'm not. There are days when I let down once in a while, and I may not pray like I should or may not read the Bible like I should.

But for the most part, I've been faithful and I've stayed up with this stuff. And when I haven't, I've repented of it and asked God to help me do better. In Deuteronomy 11, verse 7, Deuteronomy 11, let's go there briefly. Deuteronomy 11. I find the Bible very fascinating because it's consistent from Genesis to Revelation. If you really understand what God is saying, it all fits together so well.

In Isaiah 11, though, in verse 7, it's speaking here of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. He says, But your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which he did. Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, to go into that promised land, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give your fathers to them, and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot as a vegetable garden, but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land and its season.

I will give you rain in due season, and God will promise us to give the grain and the wines and the oil and everything, the livestock. In other words, God promises to bless them if they will put him first and if they will but follow him.

He says, your eyes have seen all the great acts of God. You know, I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you out of the land of bondage. I led you through the Red Sea. I opened up the waters before you.

You went through on dry land, and I sustained you in the wilderness for 40 years. I sent the manna, and your clothes didn't wear out, and your shoes didn't wear out. I protected you and taken care of you. So now you need to go into the Promised Land, and you need to keep my commandments, show how grateful you are for your deliverance, because those who died in the wilderness, they didn't have faith in God.

They didn't believe God. They didn't trust God. Joshua and Caleb and those who were young, they were the ones that came out of that land. They were Moses, of course. They came out of the land because God was with them, and because they saw God for who He is, they saw the great acts that He did, and they didn't doubt these things to any large degree.

They continually reminded themselves that God is all-powerful, and that if I do my part, I don't have to worry about God doing His, because He will do His. He's faithful. Again, He may not do it exactly the way we think He should, but the bottom line is He will deliver us into His Kingdom, because He says, it is my good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. That's what God desires for every one of us, so we just need to be faithful through thick and thin, and never allow ourselves to get spiritually blinded and lose sight of what God's doing in our lives.

In Acts 4, verse 20, notice what the apostles said here. This is obviously after they were beginning to be persecuted for their position, for their stance in following Christ and standing up for Christ who was crucified, but they were not bashful in pointing out that Christ was indeed the Messiah, the Savior that He was resurrected. He's at the right hand of God.

And notice Acts chapter 4, verse 20, however, what does Peter and John say here after they were arrested?

And of course, they were arrested, what, for healing a person? For preaching the truth of God. So in verse 20, when they were taken before the Sanhedrin, they said, For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. They saw things with their own physical eyesight. They could not deny.

And they also saw things spiritually, because God opened their mind spiritually.

We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old, on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. Someone who had been lame since birth, and now he could walk, he could run, he could jump, and he was healed. So they go on and pray for more boldness to preach the truth.

In Acts 5, verse 32, verse 29 first, We ought to obey God rather than men. That is what they said when they were being chastised. And then in verse 32, And we are his witnesses to these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. God gives his Spirit to those who obey him. So there are many people who believe they have God's Spirit, but they don't really have a real understanding of what the Holy Spirit even is.

And God has not given them his Spirit because they are not obeying him in some of the fundamental Ten Commandments. So people, again, are very deceived. They don't see well spiritually. They don't have good spiritual vision because they're still blinded.

And again, it's the daily maintenance. You know, John and Paul and the others, they were dedicated to God every day of their lives. And they were praying, and they were studying the Word of God, and they were fellowshiping together. They were preaching the Word of God on a daily basis. So this daily maintenance is very, very important. And, you know, throughout the Bible, the examples of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the disciples have been examples of prayer. You know, people who would pray not just once a day, but three times a day.

You know, they would discipline themselves to pray three times a day. You know, that kind of helps keep you on target. If you're praying three times a day, you pray in the morning, you pray sometime in the noon or afternoon, and then in the evening, that really keeps you spiritually focused. So if you're not praying faithfully like that, you could certainly start doing that, right? It's not that hard to take a few minutes to get down on your knees and to pray. Certainly in the morning, you can do that. Certainly in the morning, you can pray when you get up and show God that, God, I acknowledge you. You know, this is a new day. I acknowledge you. Guide my steps. It doesn't have to be a long drawn-out prayer, necessarily, although you should find some time to pray in depth for people and for those who are ill and for other issues that are going on in your life, but at least take a little bit of time to acknowledge God each morning. And then think about it during the day. Take a moment to get alone to yourself and pray a second time. And then before you go to bed at night, that's good spiritual maintenance. And if you're not doing that, then you're not maintaining things the way you should. No wonder you can't see very well, because you're not doing the things you need to do.

And meditation is another thing. And meditation is another thing. That's one thing I can say. I've always met... I mean, maybe I didn't pray every single day of my life, because I was out hunting and got... I probably pray more when I'm hunting, actually, because you're waiting on animals to come and you've got lots of time. So actually, I pray quite a bit when I'm out hunting, but I'm sure there's been a day or two scattered here and there where I haven't prayed like I should, or where I haven't read the Bible, you know, maybe a big fishing trip, and I got up early and took off and didn't read my Bible. But I've always meditated on God's way. I mean, no matter where I am or what I'm doing, God just floods into my mind, because he's that important. And trying to do it his way, even when I'm going astray, I'm usually meditating on, I shouldn't do this. You know, God doesn't want me to go down this path.

So meditation is another important daily maintenance.

You know, we should get in the habit of thinking about God. You know, God should be there ever present.

As we go throughout our day, our Savior Jesus Christ, they should be ever present. You know, they should always be there. And we should meditate throughout the day.

So being... Oh, another thing is fasting. You know, the Bible says, some things don't happen except through prayer and fasting. And it doesn't just mean on the day of atonement.

Finding some other times to fast is very important for our spiritual maintenance, because fasting is a power tool.

It accomplishes things when we fast. You know, it's not easy to do.

But that's why it gets such good results, because it isn't easy to do, and you've got to really commit yourself. And then God can work through you and talk to you more loudly if you're taking some time to fast, because that shows God that He really is important to you. I mean, you're giving up food for Him. And we know how much you like to eat.

And we know how much I like to eat. In fact, I'm looking forward to the potluck.

But when you, you know, when you take 24 hours and you don't eat anything, and you don't drink anything, you are making a statement. You're sending a message. And that's an important message to send on a regular basis.

So especially during times of crisis, it would be wise to spend a little time fasting and asking for direction and guidance and God's help. He doesn't mind if you do that. That shouldn't be the only time you fast is when you're in a crisis, and you want something. God, deliver me!

That's, you know, that's usually why we fast. Or oftentimes why we fast is because we need delivered. And God's okay with that.

But there are other times when we should just fast, because we know it's the right thing to do. And it draws us closer to God, and it shows that we're dedicated to Him.

So second, the second principle in, that's essential to good vision, is being faithful in the daily maintenance.

Thirdly, commandment keeping helps us maintain good spiritual insight, keeping the commandments. In Deuteronomy, I read a few verses about keeping the commandments.

We could go to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, where two whole chapters are dedicated to blessings and cursings.

And God is saying, I will bless you if you will keep my commandments.

If you will keep them, especially the 10 commandments as an overall outline for your life, if you'll keep these commandments, then I will bless you. And if you decide not to, if you choose not to keep them, then you'll pay a price for that. That's in the Bible, and it's from Genesis to Revelation. In the New Testament, God says you'll reap what you sow. It's the same thing. You'll reap what you sow. If you sow good seed, you're going to reap good results. If you sow bad seed, bad things are going to happen. It's just axiomatic. It's a law that God has put in motion.

In Deuteronomy 28 verse 29, Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 29, it says, and you shall grope at noonday. He's talking about people who will not humble themselves and obey him. Those who are still blinded, he says you shall grope at noonday as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways if you don't keep my commandments. He says, don't be surprised if things don't go well for you, if you're not keeping my commandments, because you're going to be stumbling around in the darkness, and I'm not going to bless someone who is not willing to step out and have some faith in me and start obeying me.

In Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 17, Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 17, that's a book we don't turn to an awful lot. Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 17, and I will bring distress upon men, of course this is God talking here, he says I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men.

Okay, again we're talking about spiritual blindness, and he's saying that I will bring distress upon those who are walking like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord.

And their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh shall be poured out as the dung. So pretty graphic language.

God is saying, and this is primarily speaking about times still to come, however, it's dual.

This is a dual prophecy. God has brought distress upon men throughout the ages if they did not obey him. And if they were walking like blind men, they would pay a price for that, because they've sinned against the Lord. But in the end time, in the last days, God is going to pour out his wrath upon a sinning people. That's what the book of Revelation clearly shows, that because mankind has refused to repent, they've continued in their sins, God is going to pour out distress upon them, and their blood shall be poured out as the dust. And there's going to be tremendous suffering in the future, because people won't turn to God at this time. And there's ample evidence in the world that God exists, and that he has his word that he's revealed and left for us. There's ample evidence. A fool says in his heart, there is no God.

It's a fool that claims that.

Those of us who know better know that this is our instruction manual, and it tells us how to live.

And commandment-keeping helps us maintain good vision, good spiritual eyesight.

In Proverbs 29, verse 18, where there is no vision, the people perish. When there's no spiritual vision, the people perish. Where they throw off restraint, and they begin to sin against God, if there's no spiritual vision. Proverbs 29, 18, where there is no vision, the people perish. You have to have good spiritual vision if you're going to live forever, and if you're going to be able to see spiritually.

So the third element in maintaining good vision, or having good spiritual vision, is by keeping the commandments.

So we're always going to be a church that teaches keeping the commandments. I mean, God's true church will always teach that.

And if ever we stop teaching it, it's because we're no longer God's true church.

That happened to us once.

I mean, it's a clear sign that we've gone astray when we stop telling you you need to keep all the commandments.

Learn to live by every word of God.

Christ did not do away with the law.

Number four, another spiritual contact or glasses that we could be wearing is the love of God. And loving God and loving Christ, loving each other. This is an important aspect. You have to have love in your life, because that's how God knows whether or not we're truly His. If you have love one for another, you are my disciples. You know, you have to have love for each other. I think we're getting, hopefully, doing better. It seems to me like the church is becoming more that way, which is very, very encouraging to me to see God's people becoming more compassionate, more caring, more loving, because that's the sign of God's true church.

God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him, but also those who love Him. If you love me, keep my commandments.

In 1 John 2, verse 11, 1 John 2, verse 11, here John writes, But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and he walks in darkness, and he knows not where he's going, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.

Hatred will blind you.

Being a person who is unwilling to forgive others, that will blind you. You're not going to be able to see clearly, because you don't have the love. If you hate someone, you're murdering them in your heart. You're breaking one of God's commandments. Thou shalt not murder.

So, if you have to get over the hatred and the resentment that you have for someone, no matter how evil they've been, you still can't continue to hate them.

You still must pull back and realize that, as Christ said and as Stephen said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And oftentimes, they don't know what they're doing. They may know a little bit about what they're doing, but they don't see the big picture.

And that's one reason why people can be so cruel and awful in this life, because they've been dealt with that way, too.

They had that kind of upbringing or something's twisted in their head, or their mind or something is going on inside them, and they don't know what they're doing. So God says, forgive them. They know not what they're doing. Doesn't mean you have to accept what they do or any of that. You still have to keep people away that are out to harm you.

That's not what I'm saying. You have to protect yourself, protect your families.

But at the same time, strive to put the hatred out of your heart and your mind. 1 John 4, verse 20, John says, if you don't love your brother who you have seen, and of course a brother is essentially... I mean, there's two brothers. There's those brothers that God hasn't called yet. They're still our human brothers and sisters.

They're our neighbors. You know, there are people that we have acquaintance with. God hasn't yet called them. So there are physical brothers, in that sense. We're all related through Adam and Eve. It all, you know, we're related somewhere down the line.

So there are physical brothers, but we also have spiritual brothers that we're closer to in God's church. Either way, if you don't love your brother who you have seen, you know, physical flesh, I can see all of you. If I don't love you, then how am I going to love my heavenly father who I haven't seen? Now, how can you really love someone you've never seen unless you learn to love each other? You know, because when I look you in the eye, and I can look at you and get to know you, I'm going to find something good in there to learn to love you for. Or there's going to be something that's going to work if we both want to learn to care for each other and love each other. If you don't love your brother who you've seen, how can you love your heavenly father who you have not seen? The lesson is here, you've got to learn to love your brothers or you're never really going to love God. You may think you love God, but you really don't.

In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, it says, So learning to love God, loving Christ, loving each other, loving even your enemies as Christ told us we should do, that shows good spiritual insight. That shows good vision. So learn to love each other more and more. And then let's go on to the fifth, which I believe this is our last one, and that is having good consequential reasoning. You've heard me say that before, haven't you? Good consequential reasoning.

Having good consequential reasoning is a part of having good spiritual vision.

Good consequential reasoning is just thinking before you act, thinking about what you're about to do. What are the consequences of what you're thinking about doing? If everyone would just think through the consequences of what could happen if they carry on with what they've got in mind, then hopefully a lot of people would say, I can't do that. That's too stiff a price to pay.

But a lot of times they don't think about the consequences. They just think about the moment.

It seems good right now, but what's it going to seem like a year from now?

You have to think about the consequences. If you're going to have good spiritual vision, you don't just rush into doing things. You think them through. What are the consequences? Are they good consequences? Or am I going to pay a horrible price for what I'm thinking about doing here?

You know, think it through before you do it.

So there are many, many times when if we would have just thought about it, think about what you're about to do before you do it.

Think about what price will I have to pay? And is it really worth it? Is it worth the risk? Am I that much of a gambler?

There are some things that are bound to happen, guaranteed. There are some gambler, you know, like a man and a woman, they decide to have sex before they're married.

And they're, you know, they just get caught up in the passion.

They're sinning, number one, because the Bible is clear about sexual immorality. That is supposed to happen in marriage, not before marriage, not outside of marriage. It's in marriage. But, you know, if you don't think through the consequences of a moment of passion like that, obviously you'll pay a number of consequences, perhaps. Someone may never get pregnant. I mean, a lot of people have gotten by from that perspective. They didn't get pregnant, but they still paid a price for it. And at other times, you know, it's just good consequential reasoning. It's just so important. That will give us better spiritual vision.

Okay, let's talk about some disorders, some vision disorders for a moment.

Nearsightedness. That's what I have. I'm nearsighted. It's also called myopia. It's an eye conditioner, which you can see nearby. You can see things I can always read up close. That was no problem, but it's far away. I could not see. Far away objects were fuzzy or blurry.

Now, there's a verse in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 9. It says, And he that lacks these things is blind and cannot see a far off.

Again, those are the consequences. You can't see a far off.

And it has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

But he's not purged from the ones he's about to commit. I mean, you know, you have to be repentant for all your sins. Just because your sins were washed away in the waters of baptism, that doesn't mean you can go on sinning and not pay a price for that. So you have to be nearsighted. You can't see things a far off. You can, you know, again, you get lost in the moment and you don't see things a far off.

Some people spiritually are only able to just focus on the here and now. Their vision of the future is blurred and it's out of focus.

And when our focus is mainly on the here and now, one of two things could happen to us.

Number one, we can be so we can worry so much about the present or be so focused on the present that we don't see life in the broader perspective.

So we obsess with the cares of this life. No, we're not supposed to obsess with the cares of this life.

And we can become overwhelmed with fear and with worry. And that will result in a lack of faith and a timidness that we can't afford to have. You know, God wants us to be bold as we follow Him.

So we start to question God. We question His love for us. We question His wisdom, His motives. We lose faith not only in Him, but in our future if we can't see a far off.

So we have to be able to see the big picture.

So that's one of the things that happens. We worry too much about the present.

And we don't see life in the broader perspective. Or, number two, we tend to focus on the here and now. And all that the world offers in the future is not directing our actions in the present. In other words, we live for the present. And we don't have that good consequential reasoning that I talked about. Instead of being the guiding force for our decisions, the future is blurry. It's far off. We don't see.

The Kingdom of God should be fixed so much in our minds that it will govern what we do today.

If you want to be there tomorrow, you have to do certain things today. And if you're not doing those things today, then you're not likely to be there tomorrow.

So, spiritual myopia results in choking off the life-giving nutrients in our spiritual soil.

The energy goes somewhere else instead of producing fruit. We're not focusing on producing fruit.

And we're fruitering our lives away.

So, we have to be able to see both near close up and far away. That's real spiritual vision. Seeing things up close, seeing things far away, and allowing both of them to work together for us.

What about spiritual nearsightedness? That's when you can see things up close and are good at daily spiritual maintenance, perhaps, but you lack faith.

So, maybe you're pretty good at studying the Bible. Maybe you're pretty good at praying, but you really don't have much faith. And you worry about things way too much. And you're not seeing the big picture out ahead of you.

So, that can be spiritual nearsightedness.

Okay, some more about spiritual farsightedness. You can see things far away, but you need help seeing things close up.

You're good at seeing the big picture. You're good at looking at the kingdom afar off. You have great faith in God's coming kingdom, but you're not very good at daily follow-through.

So, that's not good either. So, you have to have both. You have to be able to see far away. You have to be able to see up close spiritually. And remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You have to have that faith again. Most of you probably know what macular degeneration is. You've heard of macular degeneration.

I believe that's when you can... There's kind of a blind spot right in front of you. You can't really see.

You can't see straight ahead of you. You can see peripheral vision is there to some degree, but you have a blind spot. And it's strange, but I think spiritually we can sometimes...

mimic that as well.

We're blinded to things right in front of our face. That we should be able to see, but we're not, because we're not close enough to God. And He's not giving us the wisdom that we need.

And then there's tunnel vision, where you just see everything straight ahead of you. Some people have tunnel vision. They can't see anything out here. They can only see straight ahead. But it's important to have... You'd be able to see in front of you, but also around you, too. That way you can make better decisions, spiritually, on what to do. When you can see not only in front of you, but you can see what's happening around you.

And you can make better decisions. There's lots of parallels. How about cataracts? You know, people get cataracts when they get older.

Cataracts distort our vision.

You have to take them off.

And some of you have had cataract surgery, and it's probably helped you see much better.

Your vision was getting worse. The cataracts were growing. You had a cataract removed. And then, man, it's like the world's opened up again. You can see again.

Now, my grandfather had glaucoma.

This was some years ago, but he had two bad eyes, but one was worse than the other. And the good one, he went in to have a cataract removed, but there was pressure built up behind his eye, and he had glaucoma, and he actually lost that eye. He lost his good eye.

So, you can think about perhaps some other parallels that you can consider when it comes to vision. There's so many of them. I don't have time to go through every single one of them. In fact, I think I've talked long enough for one day.

Basically, I just wanted to share with you what I've seen over the years.

I wasn't going blind. I just could not see as well at a very early age. 17, 18 years old.

Noticing I can't see what's on the chalkboard very well at school.

I'd gotten my driver's license at 16, so I was okay.

But I could tell it was getting worse, and I probably needed to have glasses to really drive safely.

So, my physical vision was deteriorating, but more importantly, my spiritual vision at that time, God was giving me much better spiritual vision. Because as a teenager, I could have easily had it. I could have gone down a wrong road. 18, 19 years old.

All the carnality that was bound up in me.

I could have chosen to go that direction.

And I'm sure my life would not be near as rich and happy as it has been. So, I give God credit for that. I thank God for that continually.

Spiritual vision is important, and God is the one that gives us good spiritual vision. But you do have to seek Him, and you have to do the things that He tells us to do in His Word. I've shared a little bit of it with you today, so take some time to think about this sermon.

Think about those five points that I gave you, and ask yourself, could I see better, spiritually, than I'm seeing right now?