One of the most critical things needed by a Christian is spiritual sight. The song “Amazing Grace” says I was blind; but, now I see. So many Christians only view things through their physical eyes and rarely use their spiritual eyes. Use my spiritual eyes. What does this mean? For me it means faith, the substance or assurance of things evident or conviction of things not seen. It means having so much confidence in God and His ability that it affects how we walk, talk and live. It means knowing that even though it hasn’t materialized, I act as though it has. Can you see it?
May the more critical question to ask in spiritual sight, is can you believe it? Can you believe in the God who is able to do all things? Can you believe that He will manifest himself in our life, consistent with the Word of God?
For the Pharisees and other unbelievers, the ability to see spiritually hinged on their willingness to believe and not merely based on what Jesus had said. Their belief or ability to have spiritual sight was clouded by human wisdom and human understanding.
In the text, Jesus asked the man who had been blind, “Do you believe in the Son of Man”? This question is critical to us and is the first step in gaining spiritual sight. Not, do you believe in the evidence, the results, or the manifest power of Jesus; but, do you believe in Jesus himself? The fact is spiritual sight will never come without a spiritual relationship. A spiritual relationship cannot even begin to happen unless you are first saved. Salvation is the first step to seeing spiritually. In Hebrews 11:6 it says, “… for he who comes to God must first believe that He is and that He will reward those who seek Him.” So a person who wants to spiritually see must first believe in the God who can help you see.
The next step in gaining spiritual sight is accepting what is physically seen as evidence of the spiritual work of Christ in my life. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit are working all around us; however, we fail to acknowledge Him or what He is doing. Our inability to see comes as a result of failure to acknowledge and failure to accept the things around us as evidence of Him which is a sin of unbelief.
For so many Christians, the sin of unbelief keeps them from seeing God do so many things in their lives. Unbelief shows evidence of a lack of faith. In Luke 17:5, the disciples prayed “Lord increase our faith.’
For many of us, who are looking to see God do things in our lives, we really need to pray, “Lord increase our faith.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4, it states, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”.
Jesus was saying to the man who had been blind and to the Pharisees, if you can believe in the one you don’t see then you will have the ability to see evidence of his works. Evidence of his works should then help you to see Jesus; however, I should acknowledge the things that I see as evidence of Him. The acknowledgement should allow me to see him and greater works of Him.
In the end, “the Pharisees asked, are we blind too?” If we are to see, let us ask ourselves the following:
1. Do we believe in Jesus?
2. Does God have to make sense for us to believe?
3. Can we accept the things that we see as evidence of Christ in our lives?
Accordingly, these questions will determine our ability to answer the following principles:
1. Believers in Jesus don’t have to physically see Him to believe in Him.
2. Believers in Jesus don’t have to understand Him to follow Him.
3. Believers in Jesus have to walk in faith to please Him.
I leave you with this prayer. “Lord, help us to see you through our faith. Lord, remove anything that blinds our spiritual eyes. Lord, help us not to exercise the sin of unbelief. Lord, we thank you in advance for what we will see through our faith in you.
In Jesus name, I pray. AMEN!”
