Seeing Clearly

 
TITLE: Seeing Clearly
DATE: March 24, 2019
TEXT: Matthew 26:39 –  (ESV) - 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
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Some of us know people who are blind, or whose eyes are failing. Many who read this devotion do so with difficulty, or with a magnifying glass.

Even so, most of us can do little more than sympathize with Rose Crawford who had been blind since birth.
Now, before I go any farther I want to tell you Rose’s story ends happily-ever after.  I am pleased to report that after delicate eye surgery she can see.

When the bandages were removed Rose wept at the beautiful colors which greeted her. How could she not?. The words people had used to describe colors to her were always so… so colorless. What I want to say is Rose’s story is very much like anyone who unexpectedly receives the Lord’s wonderful gift of sight.

But there is something unusual about Rose’s story. The unusual part is that 20 years, two whole decades of her blindness had been unnecessary. 

When she was younger she had thoroughly investigated the possibility of surgery. Back then they said, “nothing could be done.”

Rose took the Doctor’s word as the gospel truth and stopped asking questions.  She felt it was just too difficult to put up with the sorrow of being told the situation was hopeless. What Rose didn’t realize is surgical techniques changed, advanced, moved light years ahead.

If Rose had followed the news, much of her life could have been different.

As Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, He knew that in a short time He would be arrested and condemned to death.
Unlike Rose who accepted her blindness as inevitable, Jesus prayed that His future might be different. It was His hope that the Heavenly Father would find a different ending to His life than becoming the Passover sacrifice for humanity.

But there was no new technique to save humanity from eternal damnation. There was no doctor who could make His life different. Jesus was destined to die on the cross where He offered up His life so the world could be forgiven and saved.

There would be no miraculous happy ending in His life. So that the lives of all sinners might be happy, Jesus was sacrificed. To this, Jesus said, "Thy will be done."

As I read the story about Rose Crawford, I am amazed that no one told her about the wonderful advances in eye surgery which had taken place. But I am even more amazed at the millions of people in this world who are spiritually blind - who don't know that faith in Jesus can bring them out of darkness and take them into the marvelous light of salvation.

Most amazing of all is the fact that so many Christians are not sharing the news that Jesus can make the lives  and the eternities of unbelievers  different. When the Holy Spirit leads souls from darkness into the Savior’s marvelous light, we see there is at the cross and the empty tomb a cure for spiritual blindness.

THE PRAYER:- Lord Jesus, I give thanks that I have seen You. I have seen how You accepted the Father's will as the only way I could be saved. Make me glad at such a sight. In Your Name Amen

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He with his extended family have a great witness. This song comes from the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html