Trained Eyes
May 11, 2016
READ: Ephesians 1:15-18
I’ve always loved the story that Bruce Larson tells about when his children were young and they were taking a vacation in Florida. Driving down an out-of-the-way highway, they saw a sign that said, “Naturists Convention.” Thinking that a visit to a gathering of nature lovers would be a good experience for his kids, he turned down toward what he thought would be a Naturalist Convention, but was in fact a nudist colony. Suddenly over the hilltop came a group of people riding bikes. They were naked. While he and his wife gasped in utter surprise, their little boys began to shout from the back seat, “Mom! Dad! Do you see those bikers? They don’t have on safety helmets!” That little boy saw what he had been trained to see, and nothing else. Likewise, if you want to grow a great faith, a faith that will hold you through all of your life, you have to train yourself regularly to see the things of God. Surround yourself with the Bible, the church, and with sweet, loving, committed Christian people who believe passionately, love deeply, and serve unselfishly. If you do that, your faith will grow stronger and deeper, and you will come to know God better and better. You will train your eyes by faith to see the things of God.
I’ve always loved the story that Bruce Larson tells about when his children were young and they were taking a vacation in Florida. Driving down an out-of-the-way highway, they saw a sign that said, “Naturists Convention.” Thinking that a visit to a gathering of nature lovers would be a good experience for his kids, he turned down toward what he thought would be a Naturalist Convention, but was in fact a nudist colony. Suddenly over the hilltop came a group of people riding bikes. They were naked. While he and his wife gasped in utter surprise, their little boys began to shout from the back seat, “Mom! Dad! Do you see those bikers? They don’t have on safety helmets!” That little boy saw what he had been trained to see, and nothing else. Likewise, if you want to grow a great faith, a faith that will hold you through all of your life, you have to train yourself regularly to see the things of God. Surround yourself with the Bible, the church, and with sweet, loving, committed Christian people who believe passionately, love deeply, and serve unselfishly. If you do that, your faith will grow stronger and deeper, and you will come to know God better and better. You will train your eyes by faith to see the things of God.