The GIft Of Sight

I spent the last few hours at the eye doctor having more tests done on my eyes. The doctors are all now convinced I lived with Diabetes for a long time without it being diagnosed. The damage to my eyes is irreversible unless God chooses to do a miracle. I became increasingly concerned this week when early one morning I had trouble reading my Bible and seeing my computer screen. This prompted an early visit to my retina doctor. The good news is things are not getting worse. The bad news is that what damage has been done cannot be undone apart from God's intervention and there is a chance this will impair my vision increasingly as I grow older. Though it is not something we are considering now but the thought lingers periodically in the back of my mind that one day I could lose my sight.

That caused me to do a lot of soul searching about the gift of sight. With the gift of sight I can behold my wife and kids. With these eyes I witnessed my beautiful bride walking down the aisle of FBC Hurst on June 29, 1991. With these eyes I gave sight to the gift of not one but four boys on the days they were born. With the gift of sight I have been able to watch the boys play ball, golf, power lift, and run track. With my eyes I have enjoyed majestic mountains, deep blue oceans, desert plains, dense Pine thickets, and rolling hills of pasture land. With these eyes I have been moved and inspired by movies, been able to get an education, write some books, and prepare sermons.

Nothing is more precious to me than God's gift of sight to read scripture. That is what bothered me the most last week when I got up to have my time with the Lord and I could not see clearly enought to make out one word of one verse of scripture. This alarmed me. I could not imagine a life where I could not see to read scripture. That is a gift I do not want to take for granted.

There is one thing I am looking to more. That is the day when my eyes will be perfectly healed and I give sight to my Lord Jesus. In that moment all the trials, all the sufferings, all the sorrows, all the set backs, all the heartaches, and all the frustrations will be worth it a thousand times when I can see Jesus. So whether God chooses to heal my sight and preserve it through the length of my days or He wills me to endure life without sight I know one day I will be perfectly healed. It could be down here but most certainly it will be in eternity and there I will see the most beautiful sight these eyes will have ever beheld in the glorified Jesus. That is a gift I cannot wait to see.