See through the fog (1 Corinthians 13:12) with an insight from John Ruskin's book, "Modern Painters."

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 13:12 (TM)

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

STORY:

“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see in a plain way,” said John Ruskin in Modern Painters. “Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion – all in one.”

OBSERVATION:

It dawned on me after church one Sunday, as people filed out of worship, that my singular task is to help them see a truth that they might have missed otherwise … and to share it in a clear concise way as to leave little doubt otherwise. Boy, it really requires a trusting in the leading of the Holy Spirit doesn’t it. It also requires a keen awareness that there are other truths to be discovered on any biblical or theological issue.

Most of us have our minds already made up. We see what we want to see. Don’t confuse me with the facts. We’ve constructed our own little worlds. We are very comfortable living within that world. Further, we listen only to those “talking-heads” which support our construct finding different ways to lay blame at the feet of others if our “world” some how fails.

A wise individual would readily admit that in this world we do not see things clearly. It is as if we have a perpetual case of cataracts that no surgeon can remove.  We are stuck living in a fog. Within that context we really do need to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit and be open, truly open, to where the Spirit of God will lead us. We need to be ready to change. We should be eager to expose ourselves to a new way of thinking, acting, being … and strike out on a new course in life.

Living a life of faith should be a new daily adventure … a day of discovery … with our eyes wide open and a flexible spirit. We should be ready for spiritual whiplash has God changes our direction.

PRAYER:

Come Holy Spirit, open our eyes that we might see, open our ears that we might hear, open our hearts that we might understand, open us to new horizons and new possibilities in our life. Pull us out of our old ways of thinking and doing so that we can all that you have created us to be.