So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:18

One day after picking up my then 7-year-old son from school, he asked, “Mommy, can you buy my teacher some new chalk? I can’t see the chalk she’s using.” I found out that he had recently moved to a desk farther from the chalkboard but could see much better when he was closer. Needless to say, an eye exam was scheduled immediately. As soon as the exam began, I let out an audible gasp when my son couldn’t even see the giant letter “E” on the top of the eye chart! I was shocked by his poor vision and my poor observation. He was so upset when the doctor told him that he needed glasses, he jumped down from the exam chair and ran out of the room. But later that day, sporting his new glasses, my son’s vision was suddenly 20/20 and everything looked different. He was thrilled! He could see depth and dimension like never before. He hadn’t known what he couldn’t see until he COULD see. 

We all get blurry vision at times. Sometimes the problem isn’t our vision as much as where we choose to look. Other times things just look deceiving when we only see things from our own perspective. When we focus on the wrong things or choose to see things from our limited perspective, it distorts what we believe is true. Just as my son blamed the chalk, rather than understanding that he needed glasses, when our view is distorted, our thinking gets distorted, too. Even when something seems right from a cultural or worldly perspective, it is anything but right from God’s perspective. If we are constantly looking at our circumstances and the condition of this world with anything but a heavenly perspective, we will most certainly miss the details God wants us to see. And when we miss what He wants us to see, no new glasses or new chalk will help.

How is your spiritual vision? Your true hope is not in the things of this world that you can see, but in what you cannot see. Your true hope is Jesus. Only when you view things from His perspective will you see depth and dimension in every situation like never before. Only when you take your eyes off of yourself will you see the heavenly details you have missed all your life. You have no idea what you can’t see until you SEE it, and only Jesus can give you the 20/20 spiritual vision you need today, tomorrow, and for eternity. So keep your focus. Don’t look at every struggle, each frustration, and the condition of this world from a blurry, self-focused, or worldly perspective. Look at it in the light of heaven. You will see everything clearly—the things that matter, the things that last. And once you truly see, you will be so thrilled, there will be no reason to jump down and run out of the room. You are loved!