Such a Spectacle!

Neck-jerk reactions - I've caught myself in several of them recently. Not so many knee-jerk reactions, but plenty of the neck variety.

I've been noticing my neck-jerk reactions when my kids come home from school and, as is their usual routine, shove catalog-sized stacks of papers in my face. At first I thought something might be wrong with the copier at school. How did the print get so small and blurry? Then I found that newspapers, books and magazines were all using the same copier.

A few months ago I was doing the daily tug-of-war with my son. "Look at this, Mom!" he said as the paper was plunged toward my nose. He was pushing the paper face-ward. I was struggling to get it to the right reading distance. I crossed my eyes and strained to focus. "Your teacher means for you to wear underwear in a glass curtsy?" I asked, trying to clarify.

After he managed to catch his breath from all the uproarious laughter, he howled, "No, Mom! She wants jelly beans for the end of the year class party!"

I was thinking that instead of offering merciless laughter, he could've offered to show me the note from the other side of the room. It was all a little exasperating. At least I could call the push and shove routine "resistance training." If nothing else I could chalk up the encounter as my workout for the month.

The problem is I've been undeniably nearsighted all my life. But I thought that as I approached the time of life when we tend to get more farsighted, it would offset the nearsightedness and my vision would just get better. It was part of that "I'm not getting older, I'm getting better" philosophy. I figured what I lost in near-vision I'd make up for in distance. I had no idea I'd lose both! I now have contacts so I can see far away, glasses so I can read when someone shoves papers up my nose, and another pair of glasses so I can see to find my contacts and/or my glasses. Eye chart? What eye chart?

But there's a spiritual visual acuity that's nothing to josh about. Clear focus means the difference between keeping our lives on the right track and totally missing the chart.

Paul addresses it in Philippians 3 when he says, " - I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision - you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it."

Got anything else in mind? Blurred vision is caused by a spiritual eye that's focusing on self, on success, on money - on anything other than Christ. Paul also instructed us to focus on the things of Christ in Colossians 3:  "So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from his perspective."

The best kind of sight is "insight." Insight comes when we're learning to see things from his perspective. There is great wisdom in staying focused on Christ and keeping our eyeballs zeroed in on him and on his Word.

Ephesians 1 says, "I ask - ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory - to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, YOUR EYES FOCUSED AND CLEAR, SO THAT YOU CAN SEE EXACTLY WHAT IT IS HE IS CALLING YOU TO DO, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him - endless energy, boundless strength!" (emphasis mine)  Catch the vision.

Is this better, or is this better? Is it better to focus on my way or his? I can answer that one with my eyes closed! Seeing clearly to respond to his calling is what makes life rewarding and gloriously sweet. It can put that energetic bounce in your step - and a 20/20-twinkle in your eye!

Scripture is fromThe Message.

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Contributed by Rhonda Rhearrhea@juno.comRhonda Rhea writes for dozens of great Christian publications and speaks at conferences and events across the country. You can find her new book, Amusing Grace, at your local Christian bookstore. Rhonda's husband, Richie Rhea, is a pastor in Troy, Missouri. You can reach them through her Web site atwww.rhondarhea.net