January 12, 2015

“As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of G*d might be made manifest in him. Jesus spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which means sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.” John 9:1ff

“…G*d is seen by those who are capable of seeing him, once they have the eyes of the soul opened. All men (and women) have eyes, but some have eyes which are hooded by cataracts and do not see the light of the sun. But the light of the sun does not fail to shine just because the blind do not see…” Theophilus of Antioch (c.185) “For All The Saints” volume I

I was out jogging the other day, and it was one of the coldest days of the year so far. As I slogged through the bitter wind, I soon began to realize that ice was forming on my eyelashes, making it difficult to see. But as soon as I wiped away the ice, my sight became clearer. Throughout my run I needed to wipe away the ice so I could see the obstacles coming into my path. Throughout our lives, we need to do the same in our spiritual run. From time to time we will find that there are things that blind us to the presence of G*d in our path. Living without G*d is like jogging with our eyes plastered shut by ice – we will soon find our progress impeded by obstacles both big and small, tripping us up and tossing us here and there. But when we live “In Christ”, with our thoughts and actions immersed in the Word, and in turn Christ living in us, then our eyes will be open to seeing the beauty of G*d’s presence – and we will find that we are not blinded by the sin that wants to cling to us like ice on our eyelashes.

Pastor Dave