Touch points
Liz Selzer shares a liberating
approach to relational evangelism.
Amazing love William C. Goold celebrates the
300th birthday of Charles Wesley.
Modern day circuit rider Tina S. Pugel tells about
Wesley Putnam's road to ministry.
Church must support returning soldiers Kathy L. Gilbert reports on
army chaplains' call to the church.
Pastoral leadership and church membership Gregory D. Stover explains why
membership standards matter.
How to become a General Conference delegate Joe Kilpatrick outlines
election strategies for delegate hopefuls.
Aaron Neville's road to redemption Steve Beard profiles a music legend's return to faith.
COLUMNS
Editorial The continuing debate about
membership
Next GenerationThe dangers of transparency
RENEW Women's NetworkRetain the label-before
it's lost
The Great Commission Obscurity and fame
From the HeartMen without eyes
Culture in View The Reaping
News Analysis Has our United Methodist ad campaign ignited any church growth?
The accounts are plentiful. When God opened Balaam’s eyes, “he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down” (Numbers
22:31). Elisha’s servant saw God’s provision and protection when God opened his eyes and he “saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire” (2 Kings 6:16-17). The blind beggar declared: “I was blind, but now I see!” (John 9:25).
Peter told us that we were “called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We know God can open eyes. The biblical precedent says so. We even sing about it on Sundays: “Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see Jesus.” So, I wonder, what’s the problem? All around me I notice sincere church-goers who seem to not see God’s revelation of himself. Why are we a people who are “everseeing but not perceiving” (Isaiah 6:9)? Why do many seem to give a mere intellectual nod in his direction? Perhaps it is like Job. Our “ears have heard of God” but we haven’t really seen him (Job 42:5).
I suspect that for many in the church today, God is out of focus. The frame around him of Christian activity, programs, self-agendas, seminars, fellowship times, and building projects is so glitzy that the Masterpiece—Jesus—has become insignificant. Blurry. It’s as if we wear the label the prophet Isaiah gave years ago: “Men Without Eyes.” “Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way…. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight” (Isaiah 59:10).
Isaiah’s words remind me of C. S. Lewis’ assessment of “men without chests.” He contends that the sentiment or heart of a man is the “indispensable liaison—the middle element”—between intellect and appetite. He goes on to say that “in a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
Perhaps we have done the same thing with our loss of focus. We shouldn’t be surprised that if the organ—the eye— is removed, then the function—to see—will not occur. How the heart of God must long for humble prayer—the liaison between “ever-seeing” and “perceiving”—from his followers. He longs to connect with us. He yearns for us to see him as he is; not some caricature.
Could it be that the Most High God is distressed by the same things that Paul observed about the Athenians in Acts 17? Their “city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16). They did “nothing but [talk] about and [listen] to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21). And, he said, “I see that in every way you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). It reminds me of what the Psalmist says about idols. “Those who make them will be like them” (Psalm 115:8). “They have eyes but they cannot see” (Psalm 115:5). And, it urges me to recall the words of Paul to Timothy. In the last times there will be people “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). And, they will have “a form of godliness but (deny) its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). We can lose God in the midst of ministry because he is out of focus, or, in some cases, because he is out of our field of vision altogether.In his new book, Religiously Transmitted Diseases, Ed Gungor states: “We always need help from the Divine to catch divine action, because God works from the unseen to the seen.”
So, I cry out. “Lord, I don’t want to miss you. Open my eyes.” It’s a prayer with history. The psalmist said: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18). Paul persisted: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18). Elihu declared: “Teach me what I cannot see” (Job 34:32). And, when we see, then we can shout to others, “Here is your God!”
When our eyes are wide, what will be revealed; with what mystery shall we dance? What paradoxes of wonder will be illumined? We will see the One who is high and exalted, but stoops to make us great. We will observe the wounded healer, the servant King, the dependent Sovereign. We will notice the sinless forgiver, the silent Word, the rejected chooser, and the unchanging transformer. We will gaze at the Lamb who shepherds, the homeless one who prepares mansions for us, the “otherly” one who longs to connect with us. We will see the consuming fire that is slow to anger, the Lion and the Lamb, the Alpha and the Omega. And, we will bow low and fall face down.
Church, I challenge you to pray “Open my eyes”—and mean it. And, I implore you to follow Moses’ admonition to: “Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9). “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:35).
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