New Eyes

New Eyes

14 May 2023

Children always bring excitement into your life. What I find most exciting is that you get the see the world new all over again through their eyes. There is so much wonder; so much amazement. Everything is a new experience.

When my son was small, we had just moved back to the United States after living in Korea. One night we were driving and came upon one of those pop-up carnivals with the amusement rides. When you drive by, you look at the pretty lights, perhaps you can smell the popcorn, but you’ve seen hundreds and you probably keep going. Maybe you remember your childhood nostalgically and for a few fleeting moments you think about stopping and reliving some of your youth.

He had spent his life until that point in Korea and had never seen anything like this, it was totally new. When we pulled in and walked the grounds the place suddenly seemed filled with excitement. Watching his eyes sparkle with amazement at the beauty; his head darting from place to place watching all the movement and all the new smells, I had never seen his eyes so wide. It brought both my wife and I right back to our childhood.

He asked over and over again “What that!”

“What that!”

“A Farris Wheel”

“Wheeeeeeeeeel!”

“What that!”

“A Merry-Go-Round”

“Aaaaaaaaaahhh!”

“What that!”

“A popcorn stand”

“Mmmmmmm”

It was such a wonderful experience. His amazement was infections! It was so infectious it made my wife and I feel like children all over again. The whole place took on such a new persona.

It was no longer rickety rides we had seen a hundred times. It was once again a place of thrills, sparkles, incredible smells, and excitement. It made such an impact that nearly 30 years later, every time we see one of those carnivals, in unison my wife and I will say “Wheeeeeeeeel!”

We sometimes stop and walk the ground in the warm summer night air, looking at the lights. Smelling the smells. Reveling in the beauty and excitement of it all.

How often to we get to see the world in with fresh eyes? Isn’t it exciting? Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it awesome when you get to see something you’ve probably seen hundreds of times like this was the first time you’d ever experienced it?

Wouldn’t it be great to see things new again. We can! That’s our chance. We can have an entire new life from God; new life from Jesus. We get to be kids again experiencing life again for the first time.

Here’s what the Gospels say about this.

In John 3:3-7 it says

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born oagain2 he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

This leads us to a new perspective on the passages in Romans.

Romans 6

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

We DO get to see the world new again. What’s probably the most important part of that is how we begin to see ourselves.

It is the internet world now. We Google instead of the card catalog at the library. So where do you go when you have a question and what to hear other’s answers? Quora and YouTube. I wanted to see what others said about how Jesus had changed them when they were Born Again. I found answers ranging from drug addition to prison time, and those who lived a selfish life. Try a quick search and you’ll find testimony after testimony talking about their life before and after meeting Jesus.1

A lot of folks had talked about their life and conduct prior to meeting our Savior. I wondered, what is the root of such selfish behavior was? Why would people spend so much time putting others down? Why do people go out of their way to belittle others and minimize their accomplishments? Why do people get pleasure from harming someone else?