We have spent the last several weeks studying about the Holy
Spirit. Unfortunately, for many, this
study may become nothing more than another intellectual exercise of learning a
bunch of interesting facts. As we saw in
Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” yet the majority of
Christians today never seem to experience his power in their lives. Perhaps a personal example can help us
understand what is needed.
I got my first pair of glasses when I was a freshman in high
school. When I walked out of the
optometrist’s office, I saw things I had never seen before, and from then on
the first thing I did in the morning was put on my glasses, and the last thing
I did was take them off. Each time I
went back to the optometrist, I was given a little stronger prescription, and I
became increasingly concerned about breaking or losing my glasses, or
eventually losing my eyesight.
About four or five years ago, read an old book on improving
ones eyesight by doing certain exercises.
I tried the exercises for a couple of weeks, but didn’t see any change
so stopped doing them. A little over a
year later, I went in to get new glasses and the optometrist commented that for
some reason my eyes were slightly better.
I didn’t give it much thought because I had read that as we age people’s
eyes tend to change shape slightly, changing the way they focus.
A few month later, my daughter shared that she had been told
that her eyes were deteriorating very rapidly and it was only a matter of time
before she would be blind. The doctors
were hoping to slow the deterioration by using special contact lenses, but had
no hope of stopping the problem. I
started reading about various possible cures, but with little hope, since the doctors didn’t really believe there was
any.
A few months ago, I received an advertisement for a program
to improve one’s eyesight. It was pretty
expensive, but I decided to do some research to see if it would help my
daughter, so I went to Amazon and got a cheap e-book to experiment with. Using
the eye chart that was included, within a few days I began to notice some
improvement in my left eye, so opted to buy the program to see if it would
help.
As the author explained, actual problems with the eye are
very reare. Unfortunately, in modern
society most children are placed in and environment where their eyes don’t get the
opportunity to look at things at varying distances, so do not develop the
necessary musculature to adjust properly.
Those who spend a great deal of time indoors tend to become nearsighted,
because they rarely look at things at a great distance, while others, who spend
most of their time outdoors tend to become farsighted. By practicing focusing on details of objects
at different distances one can develop the muscular control to see what one
once could not. Unfortunately, wearing
glasses or contacts enables the eye to see without having to make as much
adjustment, and it becomes increasingly weak.
Today, I see nearly as well without may glasses as with them
with my left eye, and my right eye is much better than it was though still
needing improvement. How much the
exercises will help my daughter, I have no way of knowing but I hope they will
be beneficial.
Developing our spiritual life is very similar to improving
our eyesight. We already have the Holy
Spirit, just as I already had everything I needed to see clearly. All that we need to do is learn to use that
spiritual power by exercising it in different situations, and depending on him
to enable us rather than depending on our intellect or what others have told
us. Unfortunately the ready availability
of devotional books and studies, or moral codes and accepted standards make it
easy to substitute them for allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us, preventing
spiritual development just as the eyeglasses prevent eye improvement. Put
what we have learned to practice, trusting the Holy Spirit to show you
how.
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