Can You See?

A few weeks ago my second grader participated in a biography fair at her school. Her assignment was to choose a historical female, research her, and give a speech in front of her class. My daughter chose Helen Keller, and she and I were fascinated as we learned about Helen's immense determination to overcome the limitations of her blindness and deafness. For the speech, my daughter had to speak in first person and pretend to be Helen. My younger daughter expressed great concern that her sister would have to keep her eyes closed at school in order to pretend to be blind. She was worried her big sister would get hurt. This sweet and innocent concern led into an interesting conversation about how people who are blind often keep their eyes open. The eyes of a blind person simply do not work, regardless if they are open or closed.

Not only is this concept true for people who are physically blind, but it is also true in a spiritual sense for so many people in the world. Many people who appear to have open eyes are indeed blind. The Bible teaches that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are born blind because we are born in sin. We cannot see, and we are content in our darkness (John 3:19). Only God can enlighten the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18) and allow us to see our need for him.

Because of the work of Jesus, "the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them" (Matthew 11:5). How glorious it is to be given eyes to see the Savior. Even still, "for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). The partial sight believers experience in this life is a great blessing, but how wonderful it will be one day to see God face to face without the blindspots of our sin!