Casting off Vision

'And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. '
Genesis 3:8-10,21

(U.S. Army photo illustration)
The advice of the US Army and likely optometrists and ophthalmologists is to follow a 20-20-20 rule to ward off digital eye strain by taking a 20-second break every 20 minutes and view something 20 feet away.  Adam and Eve had the opposite problem.  They took their eyes off the truth and the vision God had given them.  When they had done that their entire view was flawed.  They began to see the world through the world's eyes, not God's eyes.  They viewed the perfection that God had created with shame and corrupted eyes.  They hid.  What had been lovely was now corrupt and needed covering.

There is a lot of theology that can be covered in v21, but I'm only going to look at one aspect.  Because man and woman had depraved eyes, they needed covering.  God made clothes for them from animal hides.  The first death recorded is to cover man because of his distorted vision.  He had cast off God's vision for his own, worldly view which twisted what God had given.  God provided covering for man and does through the blood of Christ.  God, through the blood, has given Christians new vision.  He has given His Church His vision for all men.

'And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." '
Matthew 28:18-20

This is God's vision statement for His Church.  Unfortunately, we have a problem in that we see with corrupt eyes.  We as God's Church desire to see His vision fulfilled but we often stray from pursuing His vision because of our skewed view of success. 

Numerous years ago I took an introductory ministry class that had us read Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Hughes.  The book was an eyeopener to me.  The ministry of the gospel, doing the work of the Kingdom, many times does not look like a success.  It may often look like a complete failure.  Following the vision that God calls you to may very well appear to be a failure in the eyes of the world.  The world's eyes are corrupted.  We must follow the vision that God has given.  If we cast off His vision, we will indeed fail.

--What is God's vision for you?

Zine Smith

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Comfort Trap

Image
'One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure, the picture of good health, vigorous and fit. Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.' Job 21:23-26 One of my favorite music groups of all time is a little-known group, House of Heroes .  I had them in for a fundraising concert several years ago.  Early in the show, they performed one of my favorite songs;  The Comfort Trap .  Here are just a few words from that song: I'm gonna get nice things and get my way Even if it means there's hell to pay I'm gonna have my cake and eat it too And what I don't eat I'm gonna force feed you I'm not looking for consolation Maybe I can settle for compensation Have my cake and eat it too And if it's all a lie, I'm gonna say it's all true It seems to be a universal state of our world that if what we think is a l...
Read more

People of Vision

Without revelation, people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy. Proverbs 29:18 I have had excellent vision for most of my life.  My sight was better than 20/20.  When I was in late high school, I was told by my optometrist that I was going to have a hard time as I got older.  I asked, "Why?"  He said, "Your eyesight is going to get worse as everyone's does.  You're going to think you need glasses, but no optometrist is going to give you eyeglasses for 20/20 sight."  My vision didn't last as long as I would have liked due to MS.  I now see an ophthalmologist annually which I visited this past week.  They have the worst games!  "One or two?"  "Which line can you read?"  "Better or worse?"  Augh!  If I could see well I would tell them?  Isn't that why I went to the eye doctor?  To correct my vision that I know is flawed?  And my eyes are fine.  My eye shape and lense...
Read more

Death Precedes Life

Image
"So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” But when Jesus heard about it he said,“Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days." John 11:3-6   Author Henry James said, "Life is a predicament that precedes death." The caterpillar appears to be a full animal. It eats on leaves. It crawls around and tries to avoid being eaten by birds and other predators. From a passing glance, the caterpillar appears complete. From an anthropomorphized view, the caterpillar thinks itself complete. We know that the caterpillar is but a butterfly pupae; an immature form. It is nothing like what it will be. The caterpillar must go through a metamorphosis that resembles death. The outer-layer dies forming a chrysalis that inside the butterfl...
Read more