Have you ever tried to do life looking through smudged glasses ? I am amazed how dirty my glasses can get! All they do is sit on my nose .... yet the pollution in the air, the dust, the grime ... can make them dirty enough that I just can't see !!!I may for awhile try to look around a smudge but it doesn't take long for me to be annoyed enough to quickly wash them so that I can see clearly again - and that puts the smile back on my face!
I was thinking how this is also true in a spiritual sense.We are bombarded by 'pollution' in the air... literally . The air waves of information fill our waking moments and even if we do nothing we are influenced and formed by the things we hear! We have no control over it . The glasses through which we view our world will be colored\smudged by the opinions and views of the people we listen to.
All of the world's offered information, in its many and varied opinions, is fundamentally flawed or 'smudged'. It's foundation is a shifting one, built on a system of mixed truth and error.
Often we get so used to seeing through our 'smudged' world view that we do not realize that our 'glasses' may need adjustment or cleansing so that we can see the Truth.
I thought of the verse in Psalm 119:9 "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word."
I looked into the Greek word meaning for 'cleanse' .... It is "clear, transparent, free from disguise or falseness".That fits my analogy perfectly doesn't it? When I look through smudged glasses everything is disguised or false - the things I look at are obscured or distorted.
But when I look through clean glasses - clear and transparent- then my view is clean - crystal clear and sharp.
I read a quote by Os Guinness who said ... "Without truth there is no freedom!"
We all desire to be free but often we look for freedom in the wrong places.
Jesus told us the only way to be free!
Joh 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." and from Eph. 4:21 we know that "the truth is in Jesus !"
In Christ we are free... in Him we have the truth ... revealed to us in His Word.
I was frustrated the other day when my glasses were smudged and I wasn't close to any water. Scripture says it is by the 'washing of God's Word' that we can see clearly to discern the error around us.
But if we don't read it .. don't study it .... then we are 'without water' and our glasses will stay smudged.
Especially today, when the world's 'smog' mind set is thick around us, we need God's Word... it is the most important survival 'how-to' guide that we have !
7 comments:
Oh, that we would would take heed of God's Word and allow ourselves to be cleansed by the washing of His Word! Then we would see Truth clearly, and know the awesome power available to those who walk blamelessly with Him.
How true this is! I love your analogy´s! They always make me think, how I stand on this matter.
And encourage me to do better!
Thanks for the encouragement!
Looking through slightly smudgy glasses right now.. .your thought for today .. .is as clear as a bell. .. . oh I do love a picture. .. it stays put . .a little longer in my brain . .
"But if we don't read it .. don't study it .... then we are 'without water' and our glasses will stay smudged. "
i'm thirsty...
This analogy was great for me. I too have a similar smudged glasses problem and a smudged world view. I do need to focus more on reading the bible and prayer and a clearer vision of Christ. My 13 year old is asking a lot of questions at the moment. He is surrounded at school by non Christians and there are no children in our church. He is concerned by what he sees happening in the world and that the end may be near and that maybe he isn't really saved. Appreciate your prayers as we support and encourage him through this time.
It is amazing how quickly glasses get smudged. And how quickly society adapts to smog, both of spiritual and atmospherically as well. I'm working with 20 somethings, and I am astonished at how many untrue things they will believe because they only know what they have been taught in school, and television. But sadly they don't want anything to do with Christians, because while we try to tell them truth, they perceive it as harsh, and instead are drawn to foolishness that seems more accomodating to them as individuals.
Hey Julie, I think I might have found a radio station you would just love. I just had this urge to let you know about it. You can find it on Winamp's Shoutcast Christian Radio Station's list or on this station's actual website. I had mentioned something of it on my blog before, not sure if you saw it there on my sidebar, but here's the link to Abiding Radio. I LOVE this station!
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