Saturday, August 14, 2010

Seeing Eye Friends

 
Ever appreciate the sight of a blind person being aided by a "seeing eye dog?"  I have not seen this often, but just this last week I saw a man in our local court house, who seemed to be working as an aid or an intern.  He appeared to be completely blind and clearly benefited from the eyes of his four legged friend.

Now for the punch-line, ever feel blind?

If so, have you ever benefitted from the vision of a friend who could see things more clearly than you?

I had just such an experience this week.  A friend was sharing with me about the wisdom of Jesus' words regarding eyes with logs or specks jammed into them.  As he spoke I felt quite like the man I had seen earlier in the week being led around by his seeing eye dog.  The stunning thing to me is that despite being very familiar with the scripture my friend was referring to, and having read this text more times than I know, I found myself seeing this text for what seemed to be the very first time - and that through the eyes of my seeing eye friend.

I'll do my best to share/paraphrase what has so profoundly been shared with me:

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
- Jesus, Matthew 7:3

If I view the objects lodged in my own eye (my sin issues) rather carefully and closely then they will appear quite a bit larger and nastier than I thought at first.  For it is in our nature to give much grace to ourselves and to surround such blind spots with cushy excuses and vigilant nuancing.

Carefully considering this teaching regarding logs and specks and then applying it to my own life would actually result in a demonstration of obedience to some of Jesus' other massively important words, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  For if I love others as myself, then I would give them the same grace that I always give myself and minimize their blind-spots (sin issues).  At the very same time I would make every effort to get to the E.R. and get the telephone poles removed from my eyes.

Many problems arise because our blind-spots appear rather small and insignificant to ourselves, but these are no doubt blatantly obvious to those around us.  Yet if we would step into the shoes of the patient with eye issues, we may actually be able to see more clearly the seriousness of our own eye sight problems and look with grace upon those who share in our same ailment.

So this is a confession of sorts; I have some serious eye sight issues, and I am thankful for the additional vision of several seeing eye friends.
 

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