Mark 7:34
“Ephphatha!”
I am nearsighted so I have to wear
eyeglasses. Without them, I could not
recognize the face of a person until he is about 3 feet from me, or better yet,
until we are face-to-face. That is why
in high school, when I try not to wear my eyeglasses, I am often called a
snub. If only they understood why.
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians,
he mentioned that what we are seeing now about God is “but a poor reflection as
in a mirror”. Even as we open ourselves
to see and know God in new ways, we still cannot perfectly know God. We are not yet face to face with God. We see partially and we know partially. There is much that remains a mystery to us.
We still live with partial visions about
God. And sometimes, the imperfections in
our understanding of God make us anxious.
We feel that God expects more of us than that. We feel that we should
have answers to every conceivable question, that we should never experience
doubts, that we should have clarity at all times.
A story in the Bible showed everyone asking
a blind man how he was able to see. But
in the end, it was the blind man who lectured to them about Jesus and about
salvation. He was able to see
physically… and spiritually, for he opened not only his eyes to the Lord, but
also his heart. The Pharisees can see
clearly, but their hearts are close – they are blind spiritually.
As we begin to see God as loving, we come
to believe that we are lovable. As we begin to see that God wants us live more
fully, we come to believe that we are precious and valuable. Open Your hearts, and see Him.
Almighty Father, what I see is not always a
very pretty picture. I long for you to
appear. If you enter the picture,
everything changes. Seeing you changes
everything because I know that when I see you, I am changed. Sink this hope deep within me and purify me
with this hope.
Amen +
Praise the Lord, my soul!
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