Open the eyes of my heart

Just before everything shut down in March due to COVID-19, I had my annual eye checkup. As promised, two weeks later I received a call to pick up the new eyeglass prescription. It was amazing how clearly; I could see through the new lenses. They were not only a new and improved prescription, but even more importantly, they were free of scratches that had made it nearly impossible to see clearly what was in front of me.

We read in the New Testament that many religious people, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees, failed to see clearly themselves. They looked through lenses that distorted their vision and prevented them from seeing Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Son of God, even though He worked miracles, wonders, and signs (see Acts 2:22).

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Have you ever found yourself not seeing Jesus for who He really is because the lenses of your heart are distorting your vision? Your lenses might be scratched or clouded by your emotions, distractions and preconceived perspectives.

When we allow God to open the eyes of our heart, we find that our lenses are clearly able to see Jesus and better yet, see the people around us as Jesus does—without prejudice and judgment, with a heart full of compassion and grace. When we do this, we are able to see others for who they really are and respond as Jesus would. He would see their pain, loneliness, misery, and hopelessness even when it is not evident. He would look to the heart and see past the hurt and look to awaken and stir their potential, their wholeness, their unique gifts, talents and abilities (see 1 Samuel 16:7)

Godly compassion enables you to encounter deep emotion that moves you to action.

God wants us to see and understand people with His perspective, especially those who cross our paths every day.

Is it time for the eyes of your heart to have a checkup? Learning to see clearly is a journey. When we pray and seek Him, we embark on a journey of being changed on the inside. God can change the heart of a person. Change on the inside is God’s work and He’s good at it! (See Ezekiel 11:19)

Make it a point to have clean and clear lenses so your vision isn’t limited, so you can see Jesus and everyone around you, especially those you might normally overlook.

Return to factory settings

Back to factory settings

Have you ever had a phone or a device that just would not work?

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Perhaps it got overloaded or weighed down with too much content, viruses or spam- slowing it down.

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After many hours in the self-help chat you discover how to reset your device to factory settings.

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Everything is wiped clean and the device gets a fresh start. Now the device is exactly how the company originally designed it to function.

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This is exactly the language that the original Old Testament Hebrew “shuwb” or REPENT is trying to illustrate.

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Most people think repentance is like making a U-turn in your car and changing direction.

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As if your life is going one direction and then you turn and face the other direction and go that way.

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That’s only partially true.

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The original Hebrew alludes to a clean slate or taking you back to the original design from which you were created.

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Our original design goes back to the Garden. We were a beautiful creation and hand-knit by God to fulfill a specific destiny. We were created to enjoy fellowship with Him forever.

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So when we truly repent, we get to experience life as we were originally designed by the great Creator. We get to be in complete relationship with the Father once again.

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We get to go back to “factory settings” - where our life is full of potential and promise.

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Where we aren’t weighed down by worries or cares to slow us down.

Acts 3:19 says

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

I love that part of the verse that says “Times of refreshing May come from the Lord.”

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I know I need that refreshing now more than ever with all he craziness of life weighing me down.

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So if you are feeling slow down, overwhelmed, or even feel like your life is going in the wrong direction. It might be time to return to your original design and chat with your Designer!

I have written your name on the palm of my hands

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I remember in middle school before there was good technology we had to have a paper agenda planner to keep track of all of our assignments.

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But of course, me being a forgetful person, I usually lost the agenda within the first month or two of school.

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So I had to come up with a new method to remember things.

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Enter a black sharpie marker and my arm.

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Every time there was an important assignment or project coming up, I would put it on my hand going up to my arm.

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My Parents would get so mad at me that I would come to church with an entire sleeve of “Tattoos” with all my assignments and notes.

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Even to this day as an adult I put the most important things I need to remember on my arm so I don’t forget.

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Even the Israelites had a particular custom of remembering the promises of God in the desert (See Deuteronomy six) :

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They used to have physical scrolls and they would write down the words of the Torah and actually tie them to their hands and forehead.

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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

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Even the almighty God understand the power of writing things down to remember.

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This minds me of a verse in Isaiah 49:16

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“Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭49:16‬ ‭GNB‬‬

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God Will never forget about us. He might be at a different timeline then we have, but he will never forget his promises to us.

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So remember God’s words- even if you have to use your arm and a sharpie- whatever it takes to have his precepts go before our thoughts.

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Devotional by @virginiamarketingandmedia