DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017
Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-18
Fixing Our Eyes
Compared to humans, dogs have remarkably poor visual acuity; what we see clearly from 80 feet away, a dog sees clearly only when it is 20 feet away. So why, when we take our canine friends for a walk, do they so often bolt to the end of the leash attempting to chase some critter that, until that point, we have not seen? A great deal has to do with the simple fact that the dog is looking. While our eyes wander, his are fixed on the bushes and brambles where such creatures hide. As a result, the dog sees things that we do not.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul suggests that a similar dynamic applies in the life of faith. Those who lack focus will see only affliction, perplexity, persecution, and adversity, all hardships that Paul knew only too well. But, he insists, such hardships are not all there is to see. Those with their eyes properly trained will find far more. Most of all, they will see the power of God evident in the fact that, despite being “hard pressed on every side,” Paul and his fellow Christians are “not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8–9).
Yet such realities come into sight only when we “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (v. 18). For the next ten days, we’ll consider what it means to have such sight, investigating passages that focus on eyes and vision. As we set out on this journey, Paul reminds us that seeing the world rightly is a gift that first of all comes from God, not from us. Right vision begins with God correcting our eyes, and then we keep our focus on Him.
APPLY THE WORD
Think about what you see in your day-to-day life. In what way do you see God with clarity? In what is it difficult to see God working? Paul suggests that even those things in which it might initially be difficult to see God—such as affliction—can reveal God to us. Pray for God to give you the eyes to see Him in such things.
Today in the Word is a production of Moody Global Ministries
