Valerie kept asking me, “What’s wrong with your eyes?” That’s because I had gone to the eye doctor that day, and he dilated my eyes for a checkup. Well, the checkup was over, but my eyes were dilated for the next couple of hours! Even though it was a cloudy day, I was squinting and trying to cover my eyes. With my pupils so wide open, the light was blazing right into them, and it was blinding!
You know, it got me thinking about how in today’s society our eyes can be a little too wide open! The Apostle Paul says,
“...but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil.” (Rms. 16:19)
Paul gives us some practical advice on how to live and think clean in today’s dirty world. You see, the truth is that there's a lot of junk in the world that we just don’t need to know about - to let into our eyes, our hearts or into our minds!
Now, I can tell you, you don't see better when your eyes are so wide open; you actually get blinded by things! That's also what happens to our spiritual eyes, our hearts and minds when we let things in that should never get in. It may be that you're being gradually blinded right now by all the images, ideas, conversations, humor, or gossip that you're letting flood into your mind. We become less and less innocent about what is evil. We become more knowledgeable, even intrigued, about the things God calls sin when we allow them to flood in through our eyes!
The truth of the matter is that the devil seldom destroys people by some sudden temptation or sin. He destroys people by erosion; by slowly getting them to accept as normal or funny that which is repugnant to God. Just think about the things you’re watching, listening to and laughing at today that you never would have laughed at just a few years ago! Our spiritual eyes have become just a little too wide open, and the danger of spiritual blindness is not far behind.
The good news is that you and I can stop this gradual takeover of our senses and thoughts! If we want clean hearts and minds, there are some things we can do. Maybe it's time to cancel some subscriptions, to change the channel, to pass up a movie, and not go to that website. Our eyes are already wide open enough about sin to blind us for the rest of our lives.
What we need today is to start loving what Jesus loves and hating what Jesus hates! "Be wise to the good and simple concerning evil." We let our eyes become too wide open when we take them off Jesus and focus too much on the evils of this world!
Join us this Sunday at 1 Shackleford Drive in Little Rock, Arkansas
