Whose lens are you looking through?

Looking through lenses at buildings on a street.

Whose lens are you looking through?

Life Today!

©2020 | Bill C. Dotson

Whose lens are you looking through?

An interesting question, don’t you think? Some are more powerful than others. When you go out on a clear night and look at the stars or moon with the naked eye, you see limited detail. It’s beautiful and amazing, but there is more to see. You could grab your binoculars or a telescope and see more detail. Or you can go to an observatory and look through powerful telescopes with incredible magnifying lenses.

When I was in my mid-70s, my eyesight started failing. Objects were slightly distorted, everything was foggy, night driving was dangerous, and colors had lost their sharpness and clarity. I received a new set of lenses through cataract surgery. Incredible difference, almost immediately. Everything became so bright with colors so brilliant. It’s still working today. Just a slight incision, removal of my lens, and a replacement set.

Making decisions

As I have been studying Psalms lately at a little more depth during this pandemic season, I thought about this subject relative to God’s word. “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psa. 119.130 NIV). As we are going through life, at any age, we face countless things about which we need to make a decision, the majority of the time not knowing the outcome or consequences. Just like looking at the moon and stars, we are limited. And many times we make decisions based on our feelings, rather than facts. If we are looking at the same set of circumstances through the lens of God’s word, then our decisions will be based on truth. Admit it, most of us are in the ‘simple’ category about most things.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and light to my path” (Psa. 119.105 ESV). When you walk in a forest during the night, you require a flashlight. While I was in Romania before the Iron Curtain fell, we had to walk at least a half-block behind our host taking us to a home to teach pastors. We always traveled at night and there were no street lights. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Our guide would go to a certain point and light a match or shine a light so we could see where we were to go. God’s word is a spiritual light within darkness. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1.5 ESV). John goes on to say that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I Jn. 1.5b ESV). God’s truth can shed light on the darkness in each of us. Through confession and repentance, we then become his ‘light to the world’.

The lens of God’s word

In John 14.6 Jesus declared “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me”. Jesus is God’s Word, Logos. In John 1.1 we see that he was God, was with God, and created everything. So, he’s the author of life, abundant and eternal. He said in John 10.10b, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”. In order for us to attain this daily, we must look through the lens of God’s word and not rely on our limited earthly vision. His word is truth, power, and life and it gives us the light we need to make the right decisions that will glorify God.

Use God’s lens for perfect vision. Enjoy “Be Thou my Vision”.

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