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Galen

Sep 5

DayBreaks for the Week of 9/4/22 - First Sight

John 9:6-7 (NLT) Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. He told him, "Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "sent"). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

The text above describes the healing of a man who had been born blind. One of the easiest things to do is to read a familiar text and pass it by too quickly. Let me ask you to do something: re-read those verses and try to imagine yourself as the blind man. The entire episode must have been somewhat bewildering.

First, a stranger who is passing by, without even being asked, stops to make mud with spit and starts to smear it on your eyes. You wouldn't be able to watch him do it, so try to imagine what was happening in the man's mind. From a Jewish culture standpoint, saliva was believed to have healing properties, but still - having mud made from spit smeared onto your eyes could not have been a very pleasant thing.

Then, the man gives you orders. You're still blind, so someone had to lead him to the pool of Siloam. This took faith on both the part of the person who would lead him to the pool, and also on the part of the blind man.

But what I really want to consider is what the man must have thought when he first opened his eyes and saw things clearly. He'd never seen another human. He'd never seen color. He'd never seen a tree or a dog or a house. He'd never seen anything. And all of a sudden, his retinas are receiving images and the optic nerve is firing and the brain is trying to make sense out of this new deluge of sensory input. But somehow, the man makes enough sense out of it to find his way back to Jesus.

That's how it is when we begin to see the truth...we want to find our way back to Jesus! When we start to see the reality of what we are and what we've done and when our hearts and minds can make sense of it, we know where we need to go.

But I wonder: how many of us really are seeing clearly? Can you make sense of what you're seeing spiritually in your life? One thing is important if you are just starting to see truth about yourself: don't shut down because you don't like what you're seeing. Instead, keep your eyes wide open...and find you way to Jesus who will help you make sense of your life.

One more thought: the day will come when our eyes open and we, too, will see Jesus for the first time. Be ready for it – place your faith in him – and he will be a joyous sight to behold!

PRAYER: We sometimes don't want to see all the ugly truth about ourselves, and we'll close our eyes, so we don't have to see it all, Lord. Help us trust that no matter what we see, if we find our way to you, we can be healed and forgiven! In Jesus' name, Amen.

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