TADB 77: The Eyes of our Heart

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened (Eph. 1:18) 

Each of our five senses adds a unique contribution to our ability to gain knowledge.  Sight’s contribution includes:  color, shape, size, dimension, light, and distance.  Obviously, without sight our perception of reality would be greatly diminished.  The same is true with our spiritual sight.  That is why a reoccurring theme in the Old Testament is “Lift up your eyes and see”.  

“Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name” (Isa. 40:26). 

Jesus refers to this Old Testament theme when He said that He came to heal the disease of spiritual blindness caused by our rebellion.  We are all born into the kingdom of darkness resulting in spiritual eyes that need the healing touch of the Great Physician. 

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free” (Luke 4:18).

Paul continues the theme:

“The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4 NIV).

In our last blog we looked at the spiritual harvest in the city of Sychar in Samaria.  When Jesus explained the significance of that encounter, He said to His disciples:   

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

Using spiritual eyes Jesus wanted them to see more than a disreputable woman and a group of ethnic Samaritans.  He wanted them to see what He saw … a spiritual harvest.  In other words, Jesus chose to go through Samaria not just for the sake of the woman at the well but for the spiritual harvest in Sycar.  He wanted the disciples to see what He saw: reality beyond the obvious.  They needed their spiritual eyes to see what was true but not obvious with natural eyes.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “… that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know…” your hope, the rich inheritance, and His great power working in you (Eph. 1:18).  We cannot understand or experience those three concepts unless the eyes of our hearts have been refocused.  Notice, Paul didn’t assume spiritual sight was automatic. It is something that needs divine assistance.

Our spiritual sight is not the same as dreams and visions as recorded in Scripture.  God used them at times, but they were not normative.  What is normative is the need for us to “fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith” which is the only way we can see what He sees (Heb. 12: 1-2).  The need for spiritual vision, the lifting up of our eyes to see, is imperative for every Christian if we are to live as apprentices of Jesus.

Elisha gives us an Old Testament example of the power of seeing what was real though invisible.  Elisha is staying in the city of Dotham when it is surrounded by the armies of the King of Aram seeking Elisha’s life.  Elisha’s servant, in panic mode, warns Elisha about this threat.  When Elisha appears unconcerned, the servant wonders if his master is losing his (natural) eye sight.  But Elisha’s calmness was not the result of what he didn’t see but of what he did see.

Then Elisha prays, “’O Lord, open his eyes that he may see.’  Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).  

Too often like the servant of Elisha, we fail to grasp spiritual reality, limiting our understanding to our physical senses, basing our view of reality on what we are told by the media, others, and even our own experiences.  Sometimes we fail to see the spiritual warfare that is opposing us and neglect the armor needed to stand firm.  At other times we fail to see all the spiritual resources God has made available to us and choose to live as impoverished sons and daughters of the King.  That is why Paul gave the Corinthians this reminder, “So we fix our minds not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen (invisible but real, …known only with spiritual eyes) is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).    

When Samuel was sent to the household of Jesse to identify God’s choice of a new king to replace Saul, he was reminded of the limitations of natural eyes.  Samuel saw the older sons and was impressed.  As he worked his way down from the oldest to the youngest, Samuel would have selected any one of them.  They all had good resumes. 

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1Sam. 16:7). 

King Saul was the result of looking at the outward appearance.  Now God selected a king based on the heart.  Eventually as Samuel listened with his spiritual ears to the voice of God, he selected David.   

So how do we lift up the eyes of our hearts to see more?  As disciplemakers, how do we help others increase the scope of their vision?  The following questions give us possibilities.

Lift up our eyes

• Where has God been?  Remember His works.

We need to remember God’s story line.  Scripture gives us examples of the visible meeting the invisible in biblical history.  History also tells the stories of men and women who through faith saw what others failed to see. 

• Where is God going?  Review His promises.

Reviewing God’s promises in Scripture can lift our eyes to the real but not yet.  It is like reading the final chapters of the story before we get there.  Knowing how the story ends helps us see more clearly in the present.

• Where is God now?  Reflect on Christ’s current role as ascended mediator, High Priest, and crowned King.  The book of Hebrews is a good place to start.