Yesterday I went to the ophthalmologist for my bi-yearly eye exam. I am one of those people that has been wearing glasses ever since they were little, and I look forward to these visits.
While I was sitting in the chair waiting for the doctor to come in, I took the time to read the information about cataracts that was written on a beautiful looking poster that was hanging on the wall.
I have to be honest with you, although I have heard people talk about cataracts and cataract surgery before, I didn't really know what they were all about.
I found the poster very informative, and rather convicting to me as a Christian as well.
A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens works much like a camera lens, focusing light onto the retine at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye's focus, letting us see things clearly both up close and far away.
The lens is mostly made of water and protein. The protein is arranged in a precise way that keeps the lens clear and lets light pass through it.
But as we age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens. This is a cataract, and over time, it may grow larger and cloud more of the lens, making it harder to see.
The poster showed how the doctor must take a "probe" into the eye to break apart the cataract, then it is used to vacuum up the pieces so that the area is clean enough to put a new lens in. Once the new lens is in, the eye is able to absorb the right amount of light and therefore see clearly again.
As I read through this poster, I couldn't help but think my life is a lot like this eye. It works fine as long as the "Light" is able to penetrate deep within, but when I allow the "cataracts of life" to cloud my lens, I am not able to "see" as clearly as I should about many matters.
What are some of the "cataracts of life" that sometimes cloud my vision? Anger. Bitterness. Disappointment. Frustration. Unfulfilled Expectation. Offense. There are so many things that happen to me and around me on a daily basis that threaten to keep my spiritual vision cloudy and my heart dark and heavy.
The other day I was struggling with feelings of discouragement because of the behavior of some people that had done some things that were offensive to me. Oh, these folks didn't mean to hurt me on purpose ~ they were just being themselves . . . and how they were being was offensive to me.
As I sat in that examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in, I felt like the Lord was using that time to probe me with some of the truths in His Word so that the cataracts that I had allowed to cover my heart would break apart. He wanted His Light to shine in and comfort and encourage me, but He knew it couldn't until those things were removed.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:31-32:
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."The probing tool that God used to break apart the cataract that was forming on my heart was His Word, and especially the parts of His Word that talk about forgiveness. He made it clear to me that day that I needed to forgive the folks that had offended me, just like He was willing to forgive me when I did things to offend Him.
How did I do it? I sat down and listed everything that I was angry about and feeling bitter over and I asked God to help me forgive the people that had caused each one. At the end of it, I felt like I had new eyes and a fresh heart.
I know that many people are afraid to forgive those that offend them, so they hold on to the offenses that they receive as if they are precious treasures. But Hebrews 12:14-15 reminds us that when we do this we are troubling ourselves and will be used (by the evil one) to defile many.
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled."
This year I will celebrate 26 years of being saved. I'm considered a Christian adult by many. I have walked with God long enough to tell others about Him and to know what He has to say about most things.
And just as my eye will have a tendency to allow things to clump together and cloud things over, because it is old and doesn't take care of itself as carefully as it used to, my heart (that has been doing this Christian thing for many, many years) can be tempted to allow things to clump together and cloud things over as well.
I think this is why God created His Word to be "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. " Hebrews 4:12
Yesterday I went to the ophthalmologist with the purpose of getting my eyes examined, but while I was there God used an informational poster on cataracts to remind me that my heart needed to be examined as well.
"Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." Psalm 26:2