What Do You See

Have you ever been intrigued by optical illusions. Basically, they’re pictures that deceive our minds. We see one thing, but our brains tell us we’re seeing something different. Take a look at this picture. Some of you may have run across this in a book or in school. How many of you saw an older woman in the picture? How many saw a young woman? It’s interesting how we can all see the same image; yet, leave with a different picture of what we saw. Back in the 90’s, the Magic Eye books became really popular. In each of these magic eye pictures was hidden some kind of object. I could never find the hidden objects. Other people saw the hidden spaceships and planets and all I could see was a bunch of squiggly colored lines on a page.

Life often feels the same way. We are presented with a reality, but how we choose to view the situation determines our course. I’ve had to wear glasses or contacts since I was in the third grade. I am near-sighted. This means that I can’t see very far in front of me. If I take off my glasses I can only see a couple of feet in front of me. The entire front row has become blurry to me. When I put on my glasses, though, my vision changes. I can distinguish faces and I can see where I’m headed. When we choose to follow Christ it’s like we put on a pair of glasses. Before, we walked around with no direction and no vision for life. Yet, Christ gives us the opportunity to look at life in a whole new way. Even though this new vision is available to us, we still choose to look at life in the same way we did before Jesus. We accept Christ, but reject His vision. It is like being near-sighted, but declining the use of glasses. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been talking about being hungry for God. Why? Because we’re not content with pretending to be a church. We want to know God personally and we want to experience the fullness of His Spirit. Yet, if we don’t learn to see things the way God sees them, we’re going to miss the reality of what God wants to do in our lives.

(Turn to Ezekiel 37:1) The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”