100 Days on Jesus’ Sermon Mount (Day 55)

Jesus said, “... if your eyes are defective, your whole body will be in darkness. So if the ‘light’ that is in you is actually darkness, how dark it will be!”

— Matthew 6:23 (USC)

God speaks as much in our folly as in our wisdom — as the whole of life will attest to sense, or otherwise, of all our decisions.

If we are angry within, and we take no heed of such anger, the fruit of the anger within will soon spill out onto the streets of our lives; the stench of fruit gone bad, everywhere! People will be maimed, and the maiming of our folly is close at hand. We will not see. We will be blind to the vast silliness of our defective vision. We will not see what is so apparent before others. And the consequences that come are usually obvious from the vantage point only of hindsight.

Uncorrected defective vision leads to uncorrected mistakes of living; sin unabridged.

There are many forms of defective vision that will take us off track. Because that defective vision warps our view of the right path, we are bound to wander into dangerous territory. Indeed, for the most part we begin to choose for the hazardous way! And we don’t even see the mess we are getting ourselves into!

Now, a way to be convinced of this is — not judging — ask God’s Spirit to lead you to a person with defective vision. It’s not judging them to notice them, for our curious eyes don’t lie. Use your observations as an instrument for your own learning... “Lord, where do I make similar mistakes of perception, or pre-judging situations, of impatience, and of impertinence?” The Spirit will begin to show us at our invitation. Ask, you shall be answered.

It’s the disciple’s task, not simply to look unto the perfection of Jesus, but to address the imperfections of the self. A disciple’s defective vision — a common human faultiness — is a tool, if we can distinguish, within ourselves, our moral vagaries through the mirrors of our soul, because we have been awakened to this special kind of revelation.

Wise advisors, the ability to reflect in the moment, prompt repentance, the heavenly standard of Jesus imputed within one’s own view and how one falls short, a core commitment to truth and integrity, and the nurturing of God’s silently Spiritual voice — these are all tools, among others, to address our defective spiritual vision.

If we ask God to help us identify where our spiritual vision is defective, our Lord will lead us to that very destination.

But if we insist in our pride that we are full of light, much darkness has actually come to squat in us. And we will not easily rid ourselves of such a stubborn occupation!

Here is the paradox: choose to see the darkness inside and the light will make itself a home. Choose to avoid the light of truth and darkness will never flee.

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QUESTIONS in REVIEW:

1.     Where have you previously been led astray by the Enemy of God, the world, or your own fleshly desires? How can this process of having been led astray inform you now so as to ward against future situations suchlike?

2.     How do you keep your spiritual vision from becoming defective in the first place (apart from reviewing Day 54 — Matthew 6:22)?

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English (2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.