Make sure you recognize your Lord

There is a place in my heart that’s growing. A place as easy as precious childhood memories, like fishing for crawdads in a muddy ditch near my home. A place that offers comfort from the storms of existence. A place I yearn for, far from the carnival lights of man’s festivities.

Where the noise and glare make it hard to hear or see the wonder of Yahweh. I walk there as Jesus takes me by the hand leading me to surrender. He is rescuing me from the cartoon cavalcade of distractions that fog my mind, stifling my spirit. Beside Him my pace often quickens, as I see the lights of His love illuminating the truth of His desires. Strolling along with Him the peace comes in waves. Problems arise, yet my heart remains still focused on His manifest presence within my heart. He is the reason tranquility comes, being, He is the guardian of my soul. Yet to those that may contemplate the reality of this thought, I say it’s not a breeze. Having taken many years to arrive at this place. I struggle seeing things clearly, the scars upon life make it difficult to comprehend the complete story. 

When I was a young man learning to weld, my instructor repeated often that once the bead was laid, upon removing my visor, I was to put on goggles to protect my eyes. This was fundamental, as one chipped off the slag. Being smarter than my teacher, and disliking the time required to do it properly, along with a slew of other excuses, I learned my lesson the hard way. I chipped metal into my eye. There it remained for a season, in fact my whole freshman year. The ready to retire country doctor, who thought he had seen it all, told my parents I had just burned them welding. Even though it affected only one eye. It was only later after a large scar appeared and made it difficult seeing, I was taken to the right physician. The ophthalmologist was angry that my vision had been taken so lightly. He removed the obstruction to my sight, yet told me my vision would always be impacted. A scar lays across my pupil filtering the world around me. I notice it most often when I’m away from bright lights. The stars and the moon don’t appear the way they did in my childhood. I long to see them that way again, the way people with unclouded sight observe their glory. Yet as the doctor told me, the past blocks the way. So in trust, I observe them taking the word of friends that their beauty remains.

Besides the distractions of a fallen world luring you away or blocking your spiritual view. Many… actually I mean everyone, has in their own wisdom incurred scars that create nearly overwhelming filters. So much of the time, they spend all their focus on trying to see. Over and over again they tug and pull at the pain. In doing so we create scabs that scar further. What it takes is the right physician to alleviate the distress. The old worldly spiritual doctors are not focused on your sight. They focus on themselves. Masquerading as someone who cares, much to your detriment. Telling you to trust them, they are simple actors playing a part.

Yet there is a caring Physician. A Physician who knows you inside out. A Physician, there on the day you were born. A Physician, standing over you at death. A Physician that’s merciful, thinking of you, not of Himself. He desires only to take from you the pain hindering your sight. That filters His truth. His Name is Jesus, The Great Physician. So many people think they know Him, yet all they understand is how others visualize His glory. And the ones they depend on are completely blind. Would you ask someone who sits in the darkness with blinders on to describe something they have never seen? Of course you wouldn’t. So why then do men seek the spiritual blind to lead? Because they love the festivals of man. They are entertained by the cartoon cavalcade of clowns that distract them. All the while tugging at the scars of the past, creating new ones. If they walk this path long enough, the True Jesus of the Gospel, they will never see. 

And just as they don’t recognize Him here, He won’t recognize them in Heaven. As the scriptures say, many will stand before Him at the Judgement saying Lord, Lord. Look at all I did for you! He will say depart from me you doers of evil. I never knew you!