Seeing is believing? No, Believing is Seeing!

[HKHaugan]

‘Seeing is Believing?’ No, Believing is Seeing!

In a speech to Cambridge University students on Dec.4,1857 Dr. David Livingstone, the famous missionary physician said, “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay?…Say rather, it is a privilege…” Then he said, “God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds any heart to Yours.”

God had given him a vision, to see, perceive and step into the spiritual condition of a continent. He ‘saw’ his part,--- bring those in it to the Lord.

This prompts us to revisit the three eyes with which God has endowed us, the eye of the mind, the eye of the heart and the eye of the spirit. These are the highly sensitive receptors in every person. When they are clear, alert and focused there is no end to fulfilling their potential.

However, none of us is born with 20/20 spiritual vision. Our three receptors, mind, heart and spirit, have cataracts (sin, its pride, fear and attitudinal strongholds) that cause blurred vision, imperfect perception and therefore questionable response. We need an eye exam (“I” exam, ego exam) and then the necessary surgery (accepting Jesus, repentance, forgiveness, Spirit-refilling) to correct our self-centered condition.

Actually those three receptors need three spiritual transplants:

First, the eye of the mind needs a lens transplant of truth (the Bible) to replace the cataract of false belief in cultural standards and false spiritual assumptions.

Second, the eye of the heart needs a lens transplant of trust (in the person of Jesus) to replace the sin-clouded cataract of inadequate perception (‘now we see through a glass darkly’) based on worldly strategies, false leaders and instant fixes.

Third, the eye of the spirit needs a lens transplant of faith to step out and let the Holy Spirit discern, guide and repel the spirits of pride and fear as we share Jesus with whom ever will listen.

Assuming we are willing to go through the spiritual surgery necessary to restore us to what the Lord intended, it is the post surgical experience of recovery that we concentrate on. It's called 'taking up our cross.' Part of that immediate recovery program is rethinking how we meet people in our everyday walk. We have to start within realizing one very basic truth, we each are images of God. This means we have to practice seeing every person we meet as an image of God and think about what that means. They have a mind, heart and spirit just like we do. Regardless of how they look, speak and act our first responsibility is to see them as God sees them (John 7:24). Then we can see the needs in a person. Our need is to see the need of the persons we meet. The mind believes and processes the need. In our heart we trust Jesus can meet the need. Here is when we step out in faith letting the Spirit empower the action needed to meet the need.

While all this sounds logical the first demand is how we see ourselves in the eyes of God. We are sinners. That is, we have an inclination in mind, heart and spirit to put ourselves first in every next encounter we have in the world. That's the nature of sin. It means we do the opposite of what sin directs by turning ourselves over to God and letting Him direct the thoughts of our mind, the trust in our heart and the motivations to how we act.

Second, we keep in mind that process as we meet others because they are just like us and need to be seen as images like us, in need of God, the One who is seen in the Jesus of Scripture.

Third, we let the Scripture become our basic reading material to fill our mind with the kind of thinking that enables the heart to trust what it can't see, the God who gave us the invisible insight to understand visible outsight. The great gift He has given us is called humility. If we humble ourselves before His mind, heart and Spirit then we can humble ourselves to see the image of God in others. That's how we can see them as they really are because we have first seen ourselves as we are. This is precisely where God's love leads to compassion and compassion leads to listening and listening leads to hearing the mind, heart and spirit of others. Now we are able to respond as the Lord would have us respond.

No matter where God leads us in the humble walk He has called for whatever we encounter will be a learning experience for the next moment and all the moments after that. That's when we begin to 'see' in every next moment. A final quote from David Livingstone has a Pauline ring to it. When you read about Paul’s trials in 2Cor.11:25-29, they resound in David Livingstone’s closing remarks when he says, “Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. Say rather, it is a privilege.”

David Livingstone never met an every next moment he didn't cherish. “I will go anywhere, provided it be forward.”